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PREFACE. 



The following pages are presented to the public by one of the survivors of 
this -worst of prisons, believing it will be read with deep interest by every 
American, and by every relative and friend of those who happened to be one 
of the unfortunate inmates of the Dartmoor Prison. 

If any part of the work should be found languid and tedious, it must be 
wholly attributed to the suffering situation of the author; the vigor and 
vivacity of whose mind was greatly afiected by those of the body. If 
misery is less interesting collectively in groups than when viewed individu- 
ally, let the reader single out one, and view him, separately, through the 
iron grating, and see him, pale and feeble, etching upon a stick, with a 
rusty nail, another notch, which adds to his calender another of those dismal 
days and nights he had spent in confinement; he may view him till he sees 
the iron enter his soul before he turns from him, and then say — it was my 
son, my brother, or my friend ! — he will then have a picture interesting 
enough to his feelings. 



COPYRIGHT SECURED. 



CERTIFICATE. 



We, the undersigned, late prisoners of war, having been con- 
fined the greater part of the last war between the United 
States of America and Great Britain, and having carefully perused 
and examined the following Manuscript Journal, kept by Charles 
Andrews, our fellow-prisoner at Dartmoor, in the County of Devon, 
in the kingdom of Great Britain, do solemnly declare, that all 
matter and occurences herein contained, are just and true, to the 
best of our knowledge and belief; and that this is the only Journal 
kept at Dartmoor. 



Capt. Joshua Wait, 

Capt. Samuel H. Ginnodo, - 

Capt. Frederick H. Coffin, 

Mr. Joseph C. Morgan, 

Lieut. Homer Hull, 

Mr. Jacob Evans, 

Capt. Bonjamin F. Chesebrough, 

Mr. Luther S. Dunbar, 

Capt. Richard Longly, - 

Mr. Ephraim Abbott, - 

Mr. Feuton Conner, 

Mr. Joseph Conner, 

Mr. David Morrison, 

Mr. Caleb Coffin, - - • 

Mr. John Merrill, - 

Capt. Charles Bennet, - 

Mr. William Griffin, 

Mr. James Bowie, 

Mr. John F. Foster, 

Mr. Joseph Clark, 

Mr. John Stafford, 

Mr. Charles White wood, 

Mr. Reuben Bunn, - - - 

Mr. Samuel Rossett, - 

Mr. Jacob F. Taylor, 

Mr. William Conklin, 

Mr. Samuel S. Brush, 



ISiew-York. 
Newport, R. L 
Hudson, N. Y. 
Newport, R. I. 

Conn. 

Baltimore, Md. 

Conn. 

Boston, Mass. 
Portland, D. M. 
Boston, Mass. 
Charleston, S. C.' 
Newbern, N. C. 

Pennsylvania. 

Nantucket, Mass. 
Portland, Maine. 
Hudson, N. Y. 
Salem, Mass. 

do. do. 
Gloucester, Mass. 
Cape-Elizabeth, do. 
Boston, Mass. 
New-York. 

do. 

do. 
Philadelphia. 
New- York. 

do. 



THE PRISONERS' MEMOIRS, 



OR 



DAETMOOR PRISON 



CONTAININR A COMPLETE AND IMPARTIAL HISTORY OF 

Cljr iuiin €^M\vi nf i\}t Mnmm in in^lmX 

FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE LAST WAR BETWEEN THE UNITED 

STATES AND GREAT BRITAIN, UNTIL ALL PRISONERS WERE 

RELEASED BY THE TREATY OF GHENT. 

Also, a particular detail of all occurrences relative to the 

HORRID MASSACRE AT DARTMOOR, 

On the fatal evening of the 6tk of jSpril, 1815. 



THE WHOLE CAREFULLY 

COMPILED EY A PRISONER IN ENGLAND, 

Who was a Captive during the whole War. 



Quague ipse miserrima vidi, 



Et quorum pars magna fid ; quis talia fandn, 
Temperet a lacrymis ? Virg. I., ii., v. 5. 

"These sufferings T myself have seen, and to the greater part of which I was a principal 
party. Who can relate such woes without a tear ?" 



NEW YORK: 
PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR. 

' 1852. 



CERTIFICATE. 



Capt. John C Rowles, 
Mr. John Meigh, 
Mr Edward Shaw, 
Lieut. S. S. Fitch, 
Mr. Samuel Correy, 
Mr. Samuel Howard, - 
Mr. William Clark, 
Mr. Joseph Fosdick, 
Mr. Samuel Morrison, 
Mr. William Hull, 
Mr. William Atkins, 
Mr. Daniel Hotchkins, 
Mr. Thomas Carlton, 
Mr. John xMigat, - 
Mr. Cornelius Hoy, 
Capt. Jesse S. Smith, - 
Mr James Sproson, 
Mr. Benjamin Wheeler, 
Mr. George Scott, - 
Capt. Matthew S. Steel, 
Mr. W. P. Sevear, - 
Capt. James McQuilter, 
Mr. John S. Miller, 
Mr. "Thomas Bailey, 
Mr. Warren Humphrey, 
Mr. WiUiam Rea, 
Capt. Thomas Hussey, 
Capt. James Boggs, 
Capt. James Gays, - 
Capt. Thomas Mumford, 
Mr. Isaac Dowel, 
Mr. Frederick G. Low, 
Mr. Henry Bull, 
Doct. Benjamin Mercer, 
Mr. Reuben Sherman, 



Baltimore, Md. 
Boston, Mass. 
Bahimore, Md. 

Connecticut. 

Vermont. 

Baltimore, Md. 
Boston, Mass. 

do. 
New- York, 
do. 

Connecticut. 

Salem, Mass. 
Boston, do. 
Warren, R. L 
Baltimore, Md. 
Stonington, Conn. 
New- York. 
Baltimore, Md. 



Philadelphia, Penn, 
Baltimore, Md. 

do. do. 

do. ■ do. 
Salem, Mass. 
Connecticut. 



Boston, Mass. 
Hudson, N. Y. 
Philadelphia, Penn. 

Virginia. 

Newport, R. L 
Baltimore, Md. 
Cape- Ann. 

Connecticut. 

New- York. 
Mass. 



N. B. — Out of the above list there are, at this time, only nine 
survivors, as far as can be ascertained. 



THE PRISONERS' MEMOIRS, 



OR 



DARTMOOR PRISON. 



The war between the United States of America and Great 
Britain, wiiich has been so costly in blood and treasure, and 
agonized the hearts of so many thousands of our fellow-beings, 
was formally declared, by a proclamation issued by the Presi- 
dent of the United States, in conformity with a solemn act of 
the supreme legislature of the nation, on the eighteenth day 
of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 
and twelve. The nations were, by this act, at open hostilities, 
and began to capture each other's vessels upon the high seas, 
wherever found. I myself happened to be so unfortunate as 
to be among the first captives brought into England. On our 
first arrival there, we were all collected from different ports, 
and confined in different prisons. Some were sent to Chat- 
ham, some to Hamoze, and others to Portsmouth ; where a 
strict examination took place as to their nativity and citizen- 
ship. After the examination, the officers who were entitled 
to their parole, (such as commanders and first lieutenants of 
privateers mounting fourteen guns, commanders and first mates 
of merchantmen, non-combatants, &c.) received it, and were 
sent to the little village of Ashburton, in Devonshire, or Read- 
ing, in Berkshire ; the former is situated about twenty-six 
miles inland from Plymouth, and the principal place of con- 
finement for paroled officers. The town of Ashburton is 
pleasantly situated in a healthy and fertile part of the country, 
where every article of provision is more easily obtained and 
at a much cheaper rate than in many other parts of the king- 
dom. Here all the officers on parole had their names regis- 
tered, and particular personal description taken of them. 
They had allowed them by the British government one shilling 
and six pence, which is equal to thirty-three and a quarter 
cents, money of the United States, per day each man. With 

1* 



THE prisoners' MEMOIRS, 



this small allowance, great numbers of paroled officers were 
compelled entirely to subsist, for having no other dependence 
and no friends in this country, they were obliged to purchase 
clothing, board, and lodging, and all other necessaries of life, 
and to make use of every economy to prevent themselves from 
suffering, notwithstanding the cheapness of j^rovisions, and the 
facility of obtaining them. They were permitted, during the 
day, to walk one mile on the turnpike road towards London or 
Plymouth, and at a certain early hour every evening they had 
to retire to their respective lodgings, and there to remain till 
next morning ; those were their general restrictions for all the 
days in the week, except two, on which every officer must an- 
swer at a particular place appointed by their keepers, in the 
presence of their agent or inspector. In this manner some 
hundreds of officers v/ere compelled to drag out a tedious ex- 
istence in a state of painful solicitude for their country, their 
homes and families, during the greater part of the late war. 

But the condition of the officers on parole was enviable in- 
deed, when compared with that of the officers and others not 
entitled to that privilege. Every such person taken under the 
flag of the United States, were sent to some one of the places 
before mentioned, and confined on board prison ships. The 
greatest number were sent to the Hector and La Brave, two 
line of battle ships which were unfit for his majesty's service 
at sea, and were nov^ used for the confinement of prisoners of 
war. These were placed under the command of a lieutenant, 
master's mate, midshipman, and about twenty invalid seamen ; 
there is also a guard under the command of a lieutenant, en- 
sign, and corporal, consisting of thirty-five soldiers to each of 
these ships. 

The Hector and La Brave lie about two miles from Ply- 
mouth, well moored by chain moorings. Captain Edward 
Pelew, of the royal navy, the agent for prisoners of war, re- 
sides at this place. On the reception of all prisoners into 
their respective prison ships, they were obliged to undergo a 
strict examination concerning their birth, place of residence, 
and age ; a complete and minute description of their person 
in all respects was taken down in writing. After the exam- 
ination, there was delivered to each man a very coarse and 
worthless hammock, with a thin coarse bed-sack, with at most 
not more than three or four pounds of flops or chopped rags, 
one thin coarse and sleazy blanket ; this furniture of the bed- 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 



chamber was to last for a year and a half before we could 
draw others. After the distribution of the bedding, we were 
informed of the rules and restrictions which we must strictly 
observe. Every ship has a physician attached to it, who is 
ever to be on board, and when any prisoner is sick, he is to 
repair immediately to a certain part of the ship for medical 
aid ; but seldom has he any attention paid him till the moment 
of dissolution, the doctors paying but little attention to the suf- 
fering prisoners, although a prisoner is seldom or never suffer- 
ed to expire on board ; for at the moment death seems inevita- 
bly approaching, the prisoner is removed to a ship lying near 
by, called the hospital ship, where if he happen to survive the 
removal, he receives much better treatment and attendance ; 
but when once removed to that ship, they may bid adieu to 
their fellow-prisoners, and most of them to sublunary things ; 
for not more than one out of ten ever recovers. 

We were then informed, that the Transport Board had most 
graciously and humanely, for the health and happiness of the 
prisoners, imposed on them the following duty ; to keep clean 
the ship's decks and hold ; to hoist in water, provisions, coal, 
and every other article expended or used in the ship ; and also 
to permit the pi-isoners to cook their own victuals, Avhich con- 
sisted of the following rations allowed by the English govern- 
ment : To each man one pound and a half of very poor 
coarse bread, half a pound of beef, including the bone, one- 
third of an ounce of salt, and the same quantity of barley, 
with one or two turnips, per man. These were the rations for 
five days in the v/eek ; the other two were fish days, the ra- 
tions for which were one pound of salt fish, the same weight 
of potatoes, and the usual allowance of bread. 

The confinement, and this scanty and meager diet for men 
who were brought up in a land of liberty, and ever used to 
feast on the luscious fruits of plenty, soon brought on a pale 
and sickly countenance, a feeble and dejected spirit, and a 
lean, half animate body. This bad state of living, I solemnly 
believe, has been the serious cause of inducing many valuable 
citizens of the United States to enter the king's service, to the 
great injury of their country. 

The prisoners are counted every night as they are ordered 
below by the guard ; and every morning, about sunrise, each 
prisoner is obliged to "take up his bed and walk ;'' for he is 
ordered to shoulder his hammock and go on deck, and be 



8 THE prisoners' MEMOIRS, 

counted with it on his shoulder. He then leaves his hammock 
on deck all day, and has permission lo go below or remain on 
deck, as best suits his convenience. 

No prisoner is permitted to hold any correspondence, except 
by unsealed letters passing through the hands of the Board of 
Transport. No boat is permitted to come alongside the ship, 
unless by permission of the commanding officer, and then 
must be strictly examined by the sentry, to prevent any liquor, 
newspapers, or candles, from coming among the prisoners ; 
these being prohibited by the gracious and humane Board of 
Transport. 

For consolation in our present miserable condition, we were 
informed that the said honorable Board had indulgently permit- 
ted the American prisoners to establish and carry on any 
branch of manufacture, except such as netting, woollen fabrics, 
making straw hats and bonnets, &c. &c. ; or rather, they pro- 
hibited every branch of manufactory which they were capable 
of pursuing. At this time they could have carried on the 
making of straw into flats for bonnets with Yeiy considerable 
advantage, as almost every sailor was more or less capable of 
working at this art, and, by strict attention to the business, 
could have earned six or eight pence sterling per day : but 
this was not permitted, and we considered this prohibition a 
contrivance of the agents of government to induce the prison- 
ers to enter his majesty's service. Their situation was now 
so abject and wretched, that they were willing to embrace any 
opportunity where there was the least prospect of bettering 
their condition, however repugnant to their feelings or senti- 
ments ; and though their country's interest was ever nearest 
to their hearts, yet, through the faint hope of ameliorating 
their condition, and some day or other of returning to their 
native land, their wives and families, some of less fortitude 
were induced to join in arms ao;ainst their country. It could 
not be a crime ; for self-preservation is the first law of na- 
ture. 

From the first of our imprisonment, which was shortly after 
the commencement of the war, prisoners were constantly ar- 
riving, and immediately disposed of in one or other of these 
depots : — among them were great numbers of American sea- 
men who had been delivered up from the different ships of war 
in the English service, on board of which they had remained 
from one to ten years, and after receiving many dozen lashes 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 



at the gangway of the ships, were sent to prison with the ap. 
pellation of " dammed rebellious villians, unfit for his majesty's 



service !" 



During the fall of the year one thousand eight hundred and 
twelve, until April in one thousand eight hundred and thirteen, 
the English had collected at the following depots the number 
hereinafter mentioned, who were mostly prisoners delivered up 
from ships of war, and citizens of the United States detained 
in them for some time before. At Chatham were collected 
about nine hundred ; at Portsmouth, about one hundred ; and 
at Plymouth, about seven hundred. These unfortunate men 
had ofien made application to Mr. Beasley, the agent for 
American prisoners of war, who resided in England, but were 
never able to obtain an answer from him. At this time, great 
numbers of the oldest prisoners were completely destitute of 
clothing, and the most active and cleanly unable to avoid be- 
ing covered with vermin. 

On the second of April, one thousand eight hundred and 
thirteen, the Transport Board, apprehending the escape of the 
prisoners, in consequence of their repeated threats to that pur- 
pose, issued an order to Captain Pelew, then agent for the pris- 
oners at Plymouth, to make preparation for removing all the 
prisoners then confined on boar.i the Hector prison-ship, at 
Plymouth, to the depot at Dartmoor, in the county of Devon, 
situated seventeen miles from Plymouth, in the back country. 

These orders were accordingly made known to the prison- 
ers ; and on the morning of the third of April, they were or- 
dered on deck, with their hammocks, baggagf^ &c.,in readiness 
to march to a prison, the very name of which made the mind 
of every prisoner "shrink back with dread, and startle at the 
thought;'' for fame had made them well acquainted with the 
horrors of that infernal abode, which was by far the most 
dreadful prison in all England, and in -which it was next to 
impossible for human beings long to survive. 

Two hundred and fifty dejected and unhappy sufferers, al- 
ready too wretched, were called, each of whom received a 
pair of shoes, and his allowance of bread and salt fish. Or- 
ders were then immediately given, for every man to deliver 
up his bed and hammock, and to repair forthwith into the dif- 
ferent launches belonging to the ships of war, which were 
alongside the ship, ready to receive them. The prisoners 
entered, surrounded by the guards and seamen belonging to 



lO THE prisoners' MEMOIRS, 

the Hector and La Brave. We were landed at New Passao-e, 
near Plymouth, and were placed under the guard of a com- 
pany of soldiers, equal in number to the prisoners! Orders 
were then given to march at half-past ten in the morning, with 
a positive injunction that no prisoner should step out of, or 
leave the ranks, on pain of instant death. Thus we marched, 
surrounded by a strong guard, through a heavy rain, and over 
a bad road, with only our usual and scanty allowance of bread 
and fish. We were allowed to stop only once during the march 
of seventeen miles. 

We arrived at Dartmoor late in the after part of the day, 
and found the ijround covered with snow. Nothing could form 
a more dreary prospect than that which now presented itself 
to our hopeless view. Death itself, with the hopes of an here- 
after, seemed less terrible than this gloomy prison. 

The prison at Dartmoor is situated on the east side of one of 
the highest and most barren mountains in Eno-land, and is sur- 
rounded on all sides, as far as the eye can see, by the gloomy 
features of a black moor, uncultivated and uninliabited, except 
by one or two miserable cottages, just discernible in an eastern 
view, the tenants of which live by cutting turf on the moor, 
and selling it at the prison. The place is deprived of every 
thing that is pleasant or agreeable, and is productive of no- 
thing but human woe and misery. Even riches, pleasant 
friends and liberty could not make it agreeable. It is situated 
seventeen miles distant from Pljmiouth, fourteen from the town 
of Moorton, and seven from the little village of Tavastock. 

On entering this depot "of living death,'' we first passed 
through the gates, and found ourselves surrounded by two 
huge circular walls, the outer one of which is a mile in cir- 
cumference and sixteen feet high ; the inner wall is distant 
from the outer thirty feet, around which is a chain of bells sus- 
})ended by a wire, so that the least touch sets every bell in mo- 
tion, and alarms the garrison. On the top of the inner wall is 
placed a guard at the distance of every twenty feet, which 
frustrates every attempt at escape, and instantly quells every 
disordeHy motion of the prisoners. Between the two walls 
and over the intermediate space, are also stationed guards. 
The soldiers' guard hous?, the turnkey's office, and many other 
small buildings, are also within these two circular walls. Like- 
wise several large commodious dwelling-houses, which are 
occupied by the captain of the prison, doctor, clerks, turnkeys, 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. H 



&c., &c. Inside of the walls are erected large barracks, ca- 
pacious enough to contain one thousand soldiers, and also a 
hospital for- the reception of the sick. No pains have been 
spared to render the hospital convenient and comfortable for 
the sick prisoner. And certainl)^ much credit is due to the 
director of this hunnane institution, whoever he may have been, 
for the attention paid to this most important appendage of an 
extensive prison. These last mentioned buildings, and several 
small store-houses, are enclosed by a third wall. These three 
ranks of walls form in this direction a barrier which is insur- 
mountable. 

Thus much for the court-yard of this seminary of misery ; 
we shall next proceed to give a description of the gloomy man- 
sion itself. On entering, we found seven prisons enclosed in 
the following manner, snd situated quite within all the walls 
before mentioned. Pri.son No. 1, 2 and 8, are built of hard, 
rough, unhewn stone, three stories high, one hundred and 
eighty feet long and forty broad ; each of these prisons, on an 
average, are to contain fifteen hundred prisoners. There is 
also attached to the yard of these prisons a house of correction, 
called a cachot ; this is built of large stone, arched above and 
floored with the same. Into this cold, dark, and damp cell, 
the unhappy prisoner is cast if he offend against the rules of 
the prison, either willingly or inadvertently, and often on the 
most frivolous pretetice. There he must remain for many 
days, and often weeks, on two-thirds the usual allowance of 
food, without a hammock or bed, and nothing but a stone pave- 
ment for his chair and bed. These three prisons are situated 
on the north side of the enclosure, as is also the cachot, and 
separated from the other prisons by a wall. Next to these is 
another, No. 4, which is equally as large as any of the others ; 
this is separated from all the"^others by a wall on each side, 
and stands in the centre of the circular walls. 

Adjoining to this, are situated, in rotation, prisons No. 5, 6, 
and 7, alorig the south side of the circular wall. To each 
prison is attached a small yard, with a constant run of water 
passing through it. 

After viewing this huge pile of building, and obtaining what 
little information we were able at this time, we were informed 
that these seven prisons contained a small family of French 
people, consisting of ^bout eight thousand, who were also pris- 
oners of war. Among these fluttering, ghastly skeletons, we 



12 THE prisoners' MEMOIRS, 

were directed to take up our abode, and distribute ourselves as 
well as we could* ■ 

We received our usual hammock and bed, and in conformity 
with our orders, repaired separately to one or other of six of 
these prisons ; the seventh beinoj allotted to those criminals 
who had committed misdemeanors, such as murder, larceny 
on their fellow-prisoners, and other heinous offences, which too 
frequently occurred. 

We entered the prisons ; but here the heart of every Ameri- 
can was appalled. Amazement struck the unhappy victim ; 
for as he cast his hopeless eyes around the prison, he saw the 
water constantly dropping from the cold stone walls on every 
side, which kept the floor (made of stone) constantly wet, and 
cold as ice. 

All the prison floors were either stone or cement, and each 
story contained but one apartment, and resembled long vacant 
horse-stables. There were in each story six tier of joists for 
the prisoners to fasten their hammocks to. The hammocks 
hav^e a stick at each end to spread them out, and are hung in 
the manner of cots, four or live deep, or one above the other. 
On each side of the prison is left a vacancy for a passage from 
one end of the prison to the other. We were then informed that 
the prisoners must be counted out and messed, six together, 
every morning by the guards and turnkeys. 

During the month of April there was scarce a day but more 
or less rain fell. The weather here is almost constantly wet and 
foggy, on account of the prison being situated on the top of a 
mountain, whose elevation is two thousand feet above the level 
of the sea. This height is equal to the plane on which the clouds 
generally float in a storm, the atmosphere not being dense 
enough to support heavy clouds much above that height ; al- 
most every one that passes that way finds the top of the moun- 
tain enveloped in a thick fog and heavytorrentof rain. In -winter 
the same cause makes as frequent snows as rain in summer. 
It is also soma degrees colder during the whole j-ear than in 
the adjacent country below. This too is occasioned by tlie 
great elevation of the top of the mountain, which is above the 
atmosphere heated by the reflected rays of the sun upon the 
common surface of the earth, and being small ot itself, reflects 
but little heat. These two causes combined, produce constant 
cold and wet weather. 

Information was brought us that all prisoners in England 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 13 

were placed on a naval establishment, and under the direction 
of a naval officer. Captain Isaac Cotgrave, of the royal navy, 
was the agent for the prisoners of war at this depot. The 
Transport Board directed that a market should be held every 
day* in front of each prison yard. This market was supplied 
with provisions by the inhabitants of the adjacent country ; 
twenty or thirty of whom came every day, and furnished it 
with every kind of country produce. They were not allowed 
to impose on the prisoners, by demanding an exhorbitant price 
for their produce ; the prices of every article were fixed by 
the turnkeys before they entered the yard, according to the 
prices in the nearest market-town. No person was permitted 
to enter within the first gate, without being strictly examined 
as to tlieir business, and without giving a satisfactory ac- 
count of themselves ; if they did this, they were then permit- 
ted to enter and begin their trade. 

At the market, the French prisoners carry on a great traf- 
fic. They buy and sell, and are, apparently, as happy as if 
they were not imprisoned. But the Americans are not so; — 
they long for that land of liberty, so dear to them, and sigh for 
their distant home. 

As this depot seems to be the most interesting scene of mis- 
ery, we sliall confine ourselves more particularly to the events 
which occurred here ; only touching, occasionally, upon the 
most important events of the few prisoners at the other depots. 
From the commencement of the war, and previous to April 
1813, a great number of prisoners had been sent home, by ex- 
change. " Numbers died, and some entered the service of Great 
Britain. The names of those who died, and those who enter- 
ed the service, are mentioned in tlie catalogue hereunto annex- 
ed. About the first of May, Captain Cotgrave gave orders to 
have all the American prisoners collected from the different 
prisons, and transferred to prison No. 4. 

In this prison were about nine hundred of the most abject 
and outcast wretches that were ever beheld. French prison- 
ers, too wicked and malicious to live with their other unfortu- 
nate countrymen : they were literally and emphatically naked ; 
having neither clothing or shoes, and as poor and meager in 
flesh as the human frame could bear. Their appearance was 
really shocking to human feeling. The mind cannot figure to 
itself any thing in the shape of men, which so much resem- 
bled the fabled ghosts of Pluto, as these naked and starved 

2 



14 THT^ prisoners' memoirs, 



French prisoners. Much of the misery and wretchedness of 
these creatures was owing to their imprudence and bad con- 

duct. 

These men were now to be our associates, and we deprived 
of the privileges allowed heretofore to prisoners of war. As 
the gate of this yard is always kept shut, we could have no 
advantage of the markets, or connexion with the other prison- 
ers ; while the French prisoners, in the other prisons, were 
allowed those benefits. 

The American prisoners now began to experience a new 
scene of distress ; — the little clothing they had when they 
were taken, was either worn out or disposed of at a very re- 
duced price, (not more than one tenth of the value,) to buy 
the very necessary articles of soap and tobacco. 

We remained in this situation during the month of May, 
one thousand eight hundred and thirteen, close confined in 
prison No. 4, wiUi the liberty of that one yard. We often 
demanded of Captain Cotgrave, the reason why such distinc- 
tion was made between the American and French prisoners ; 
but were never able to obtain any other reason, than that his 
orders were issued from the Transport Board to do so. This 
month we received letters from our fellow-prisoners at Chat- 
ham, and those on board the prison ships at Plymouth ; who 
informed us of every particular of their situation at both pla- 
ces ; but they were comparatively well off, when compared 
with our situation. The prisoners at Plymouth informed us, 
that other prisoners arrived there daily, and that they expected 
shortly to be removed, and to participate with us in the suffer- 
ings and misery of Dartmoor. 

On the twenty- ninth of May, the garrison which we found 
here, was removed and supplied by new regiments of soldiers; 
We learned, that no regiment is stationed here more than two 
or three months at a time. These guards consist of about 
twelve or fifteen hundred soldie-rs, who have been guilty of 
some offence, disobedience of orders, or neglect of duty ; and 
are sent here as a punishment. By these soldiers we were 
informed of the particulars of the actions of the Java and 
Peacock. 

At this time we made known, in as respectful a manner as 
we could, all the particulars of our unhappy situation to Mr. 
Reuben G. Beasley, agent for American prisoners of war. 
We informed him that our allowance was too scanty, that the 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 15 

whole day's allowance was scarcely enough for one meal, that 
the greater part of the prisoners were in a state of nakedness ; 
and also, that great numbers had enlisted out of the prison, 
into the king's service ; — that they had been compelled to do 
it, in hopes to better their condition, and indeed to preserve 
life. For, as they were wholly neglected by the agent of their 
country, they saw no other means by which it was possible to 
preserve existence — or ever to return to their country ; as they 
totally despaired of any exchange. - 

At the same time we informed him, that unless something 
was done soon for our relief, we must all either (though re- 
luctantly) enter the service of the enemy, or fall a sacrifice to 
famine and want. 

We informed him also of the distinction which was made 
between the French and American prisoners. The former 
were allowed many privileges and advantages, which were 
denied the latter ; and that our treatment was contrary to 
what we considered the custom and usage of civilized nations 
in modern warfare. That we were hurried into the prison- 
house before dark, locked up, to remain without any light or 
fire till seven or eight o'clock in the morning. 

If a prisoner had to leave his hammock, per necessitatem, he 
was obliged to grope from one end of the room to the other, 
and often could not regain it during the whole night. 

To all these petitions, complaints, and remonstrances, Mr. 
Beasley returned no answer, nor took any notice of them 
whatever ; which, of course, made every prisoner despair of 
any relief from him. These letters could not miscarry, or be 
intercepted ; for we had formed a course of correspondence 
with several very respectable mercantile houses in London, 
through which our letters were sure to reach Mr. Beasley by 
private conveyance. 

The month of June commenced with deep distress ; for dis- 
ease was then added to nakedness and famine ; and we were 
still more severely dealt by. For Doctor Dyer, who was head 
surgeon of the Hospital-department, would not permit an 
American prisoner to be brought into the hospital, until his 
complaint was completely confirmed, and often not until he 
was so weak, and reduced so low, that it would take four men 
to remove him on his hammock. For this conduct, he justified 
himself by saying, that he had been acquainted with the im- 
positions of the Americans during the revolutionary war, and 



16 THE PRISONERS MEMOIRS, 

that these impositions were not to be played off on him any 
more. 

A moment's reflection must have convinced him, that it was 
impossible for these men not to be sick, in their starved, naked 
and wretched condition ; sleeping in a prison, whose walls 
were constantly wet and cold, occasioned by the constant rainy ^ 
foggy, and damp weather on this mountain. 

But he refused to admit the American prisoners into the 
hospital, because, he said, such numbers would breed every 
kind of pestilence and disease among the French prisoners. 
We attributed these evils to the shameful and criminal neglect 
of the agent of American prisoners, whose conduct deserves 
the severest censure of every prisoner, and requires a strict 
and impartial investigation by the authority of his country. 

From the first to the fifteenth of May, we were every day 
called out of the prison and counted, to see if any remained 
in prison. The soldiers then entered the prison, and searched 
every hammock ; if they found any prisoner, he was hastened 
out into the yard, though they were often found so weak and 
feeble, that it required assistance to enable them to walk. 

The guards discharged this duty with great reluctance ; 
their feelings often revolted, when compelled to do this unkind 
office, and though accustomed to scenes of distress, were very 
sensibly touched at the miserable situation of these their fel- 
low beings. 

On the eighteenth of May, we received letters from the other 
depots, and were informed that there were seven hundred pris- 
oners at Plymouth, on board the Hector, which was so much 
crowded, that Captain Pelew, of the Royal Navy, and princi- 
pal agent of the Board, had received orders from the Board, 
to remove the prisoners to other depots, either to that of Chat- 
ham, Dartmoor, or Stapleton, which is near Bristol. This last 
place was fixed on by the Board as a necessary precaution to 
prevent any disturbance, which was apprehended might arise, 
should too many American prisoners be confined in one place. 

Accordingly, on the twenty-eighth, Captain Pelew ordered 
two hundred and fifty to be landed from the Hector and march- 
ed to Dartmoor. They arrived there on the same day, and 
after going through the same manoeuvre as the first draft, they 
were committed to No. 4. These, together with the former 
draft, made four hundred and seventy Americans, and seven 
hundred naked outcast French, all intermixed in one prison. 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 17 

Care was taken to keep the yard of this prison always lock- 
ed, to prevent us from going to market. By this means, all 
we obtained from the market came through the hands of the 
French prisoners in the other prisons, who obliged us to pay 
twenty-five per cent, above the market price for all we had. 
At this time, about thirty were missing out of the number, 
some dead, and others had enlisted into the king's service. 

On the twenty-ninth, fifty more American prisoners were 
transported from on board the Hector, in a ship of war, round 
to Chatham. Two only at a time were permitted to come on 
deck ; the others were compelled to remain below, without 
hammock, bed, or blanket. 1 leave the reader to judge whether 
this measure arose from wanton cruelty in those immediately 
concerned, or whether it was absolutely necessary to prevent 
their escape, or rising and taking the sliip, which had her 
whole crew on board. 

On the thirtieth, two hundred prisoners were ordered to go 
ashore, who accordingly made themselves ready, and landed 
at New Passage, under a guard of seamen and marines. 
Here they were received by a ^uard of soldiers, consisting of 
two hundred and fifty, who were to convey them on foot one 
hundred and thirty-four miles to Stapleton, within a few miles 
of Bristol. 

Stapleton is a pleasant situation, and is a fine healthy coun- 
try ; but the fatigue of the journey, the restrictions and in- 
convenience to which the prisoners were subjected, presented 
to them a melancholy prospect. 

At the commencement of their journey, they were provided 
with a shilling (twenty-two and a half cents) per day, for their 
traveling expenses. This was all the allowance made them 
to purchase food, drink, and lodging ; and they were to per- 
form the whole journey in eight days. They were also par- 
ticularly enjoined not to leave the ranks on pain of death, and 
the guard had orders to despatch any prisoner who should at- 
tempt to escape. The particulars of their march, their arri- 
val at Stapleton, and treatment at that place, will be mention- 
ed hereafter. 

On the first of July, two hundred more were ordered from 
on board the Hector, to march and share with us the miseries 
of Dartmoor. They were landed as usual, and marched un- 
der a strong guard to that mountain of wretchedness, and after 
passing through the usual forms at their arrival, were received 

2* 



18 THE PRISONERS MEMOIRS, 

into prison No. 4, and might justly iiave exclaimed, in the 
language of an eminent poet, " Hail, horrors ! hail, thou pro- 
foundest hell ! receive thy new possessor/' For every one 
ordered to this prison, counted himself lost. 

On the third of July, another draft of prisoners, consisting 
of about two hundred and fifty, were taken from the Hector, 
and sent to Stapleton, under the usual guard, allowance, and 
restrictions. 

The fourth of July, the birth-day of our nation, had now 
arrived. The American prisoners, feeling that fire of patriot- 
ism, and that just pride and honor, which fills the bosom of 
every American, when that great day of jubilee arrives, rous- 
ed all their drooping spirits, and prepared to celebrate it in a 
manner becoming their situation. We had by some means 
obtained two American standards ; and being upward of six 
hundred in number, we divided into two columns, and display- 
ed our flags at each end of the prison. Of the propriety of 
the proceedings, I leave the reader to judge. We were, how- 
ever, resolved to defend them till the last moment : but Cap- 
tain Cotgrave, either from a determination to depress our 
spirits as much as possible, that we might the n)ore readily be 
induced to enter the service of the king, or that an enemy's 
flag should not be hoisted in their country, ordered the turn- 
keys to enter the prison-yard, and take the colors from us. 
We returned him an answer, that the day was the birth-day 
of freedom, and the anniversary of our nation ; and that he 
would confer on us a particular favor, if he would permit us 
to enjoy it with a decorum and propriety suited to our situa- 
tion as prisoners of war. We added this arrogant condition, 
that if he should persist in attempting to take that flag which 
we should ever respect, in whatever country we were, he 
must abide by the consequences. Captain Cotgrave, being 
irritated at this haughty and independent language, ordered 
the guard into the prison-yard to take the standards from us. 
An obstinate resistance was made. After some time spent in 
fighting for the flags, tlie guard obtained one : the prisoners 
bore off the other in triumph, and secured it. The remainder 
of the day was spent in harmony and quietness. At evening, 
when the guards came as usual to turn us into the prison, a 
dispute arose upon the pitiful revenge sought for in depriving 
the prisoners of their flag. This soon grew into an affray; 
the guards fired upon the prisoners, and wounded two, which 
ended the affray. 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 19 



From the disturbance on the evening of the fourth, nothing 
ramarkable took place, the prisoners being generally tolerable 
quiet and peaceable till the tenth, when a dispute arose be- 
tween the French and American prisoners in the yard of No. 
4 ; the dispute was quite warm, and pervaded nearly all the 
prisoners of both nations, each of whom espoused the cause of 
his fellow-prisoner. Things were not pushed to extremities 
this evening, the hour to turn in prevented their further pro- 
gress ; but animosities had not subsided. At this time the 
French prisoners occupied the tv/o upper stories of prison No. 
4 ; they consisted of about nine hundred outcasts from the 
other prisons, as we had occasion to mention before. They 
had during the night, with malice prepense, concerted a plan 
to massacre the Americans. With this design, they had pro- 
vided themselves with knives, clubs, stones, staves, and every 
kind of weapon they could obtain. 

Thus armed, they had managed to be in the yard first in the 
morning, and arrayed themselves to give battle as soon as a 
sufficient number of Americans should come out. Accord- 
ingly, when about one hundred and twenty had entered the 
yard, this group ot naked malignity began the attack with 
desperate fierceness ; the Americans, unsuspicious of an at- 
tack, were of course unarmed, and at first could make no 
resistance ; but after recovering from the surprise which so 
sudden an attack had created, they made an attempt to rally; 
but the Frenchmen cutting oft' their retreat into the prison and 
preventing those within from joining or rendering any assist- 
ance, soon caused the Americans to fall a prey to their supe- 
rior number. Before the guards could interfere to prevent the 
farther proceedings, the Americans were mostly stabbed or 
knocked dowm with heavy stones, and mangled in a most 
shocking manner. What would have been the issue, had not 
the guards entered, and by charging on both parties put a stop 
to the battle, is difficult to tell. On examining the wounded, 
(fortunately none were killed,) it appeared that about twenty 
on both sides were badly, and many others slightly wounded. 
The former were taken to the hospital, and though appa- 
rently dangerous, in a short time all recovered. Captain 
Cotgrave immediately informed the Board of Transport of this 
unhappy event ; but painted it in such dark colors on the side 
of the Americans, that the Board gave answer, that the Ameri- 
cans were totally different from all other men, and unfit to live 



20 THE prisoners' MEMOIRS. 

in any society. " If the household be devils, what is the mas- 
ter of the house ?" Did not the Americans descend from 
England ? 

The yard of No. 4 was ordered to be divided, which was 
done by a wall fifteen feet high, which cut off all communica- 
tion with the Americans, and their late meager associates. 
This act, though it seemed to have been done to injure the 
Americans, certainly created no regret ; for instead of doing 
them an injury, it was a great relief to be disencumbered of 
that outcast tribe. 

A spark of momentary joy may burst through the darkest 
clouds of grief, and hope for a moment make us forget our 
miseries. On the twenty-ninth of this month, Captain Cot- 
grave received orders to remove one hundred and twenty 
Americans from this prison to Chatham, which was to be the 
complement of a cartel ship then lying at that place ; this 
embraced the greater part of the prisoners captured before 
January, 1813. There remained of those captured before and 
after that time, 1200 at Chatham, 400 at Stapleton, and a few 
less than 500 at Dartmoor, some on board the prison ships, and 
a number of officers on parole at Ashburton. The greater 
part of these had been delivered up from ships of war. 

At the close of this month, forty-five were found to have 
entered the service of the enemy, and fifteen had died at this 
place, seven or eight at Chatham, and not one at Stapleton. 
- At the commencement of August, we found ourselves lim- 
ited and very much straitened in our regulations. We were 
not permitted to go out of the yard. A more alarming scene 
of distress than any we had before experienced, now presented 
itself before us, and death seemed to be the inevitable lot of 
every man. 

The King of Terrors daily reached forth his inexorable 
hand, and removed the sufferer from the pale of this clay ten- 
ement ; for the small -pox had got among the prisoners, and its 
ravages were so alarming, that every prisoner expected each 
day would be his last ; for numbers died daily. 

The prisoners who remafned able, collected themselves to- 
gether, and formed a committee of correspondence, who, by 
bribing the guards, conveyed letters daily to Mr. Beasley ; 
particularly describing their situation, that they were almost 
nalved, and defrauded by the Contractor of half their rations, 
which before were but one-third enough. That the small-pox 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 21 



had got among them, and numbers died daily — that tliey were 
covered with animalcula, and unless he could do something for 
their relief, they must all perish together. 

To these complaints he paid no kind of attention, neiiher 
cam'^ to see whether they were true or false, nor sent any an- 
swer either written or verbal. 

The reader can easily figure to himself what must have 
been our feelings, when five hundred men, closely confined in 
one apartment, with that mortal epidemic among them without 
any assistance, or possibility of escape. 

The evil must lie somewhere ; we were in doubt whether 
to believe it was the will of the general government, of the 
people at large of this country, or whether it was not entirely 
the fault of our agent, in not seeing that all the officers in 
whose immediate care we were, acted the honest part in the 
performance of those duties, wnich both this government and 
that of the United States had intrusted to them. It was not a 
general thing, and the evil was near at hand. The prisoners 
at Halifax fared well ; they did not, nor could not, complain ; 
prisoners in other places in England were tolerably well pro- 
vided for. 

After so many fruitless applications to our agent, we de- 
•spaired of any relief from that quarter, and then made appli- 
cation to Captain Cotgrave, and demanded of him, what pro- 
visions the government of England made for prisoners of war, 
when neglected by their own government. He gave us every 
opportunity to search out the fault, by producing the following 
printed rules and regulations, made by the Transport Board. 

" The honorable Transport Board have made arrangements 
with certain agents or contractors, to supply all prisoners of 
war, as follows : 

" Each prisoner to receive per day, for five days in the week, 
one and a half pounds of coarse brown bread ; one-half pound 
of beef, including the bone ; one-third of an ounce of barley ; 
the same quantity of salt ; one-third of an ounce of onions ; 
and one pound of turnips. The residue of the week, the us- 
ual allowance of bread ; one pound of pickled fish, and just 
a sufficient quantity of coals to cook the same. These to be 
served out daily by the contractors." 

We watched the contractor, and found he weighed all the 
articles at once, neat weight ; and saw him scrimp the weight, 
to fill his pocket out of the prisoners' bellies. 



22 THE prisoners' memoirs, 

On beef days, the whole is thrown into a large copper ; 
when it is sufficiently boiled, the bone is taken out, and each 
mess, consisting of six, receives twenty-seven ounces of beef, 
and one gallon and one pint of soup. 

On the fish days, every mess boiled their potatoes and fish 
in a net made of rope-yarn, that they might have it separately 
to themselves ; after it was boiled, it was taken up in wooden 
buckets, with which each mess were provided ; and each pris- 
oner, being also furnished with a wooden spoon, sets round the 
bucket, on the wet floor, and makes a fierce attack. 

After making these, and some other demands, which we 
considered ourselves entitled to, most of which were imme- 
diately granted, but some delayed, as we shall note hereafter, 
our sufferings were somewhat relieved. 

Could not these have been removed by our agent long be- 
fore ? We find but few men so honest that they do not need 
looking to sometimes by those who are interested in their hon- 
esty. These contractors would have been as honest as many 
other men, with sharp looking after. Was it not, then, the 
duty of Mr. Beasley to see that the prisoners had what the 
government of England allowed them ? If it was not, what 
was his duty ? Was he sent there, as the log of wood in the 
fable was sent by Jupiter into the pond, to be god for the frogs ? 

We found, by the printed regulations delivered us by Capt. 
Cotgrave, the government allowed each prisoner a hammock, 
one blanket, one horse-rug, and a bed, containing four pounds 
of flocks ; these articles too were to serve us two years. Bv 
the same regulations, the prisoners were to receive for clothing, 
every eighteen months, one yellow round-about jacket, one 
pair of pantaloons, and a waistcoat of the same materials, as the 
government of England allow for their_ soldiers : and one pair 
of shoes and one shirt, every nine months. The shirt, though 
coarse, was a chanoe which we had not had for a lon^ time 
before. All these we demanded and received ; we also re- 
ceived a woollen cap, which was to serve us eighteen months. 

I cannot leave this subject without some little description of 
several of the articles of clothing. I will begin with the cap, 
and take them in their natural order, from head to foot. 

The cap was woollen, about an inch thick, and seemed to 
have been spun in a rope-walk, but much coarser than com- 
mon rope-yarn. The jacket was not large enough to meet 
around the smallest of us. although reduced to mere skeletons 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 23 

by such continued fasting ; the sleeves came about half way 
down the arm, and the hand stuck out like a spade ; the waist- 
coat was short — it would not meet before, nor down to the pan- 
taloons — thus leaving a space between of three or four inches ; 
the pantaloons, which were as tight as our skin itself, came 
down to the middle of the shin. The shoes, which was the 
pedestal for all the ornaments above, were made of list, inter- 
woven and fastened to pieces of wood an inch and a half thick. 
The figure we made in this dress was no common one. 
" SjKctatum admissi risum tcneatis amici ? " — Hor. A. P. 

" My friends, were you admitted to see this sight, could you 
keep from laughing ? " When you see us tackled, and put 
upon runners — skeletons as we were. 

By the regulations handed us, we also found that the Board 
allowed a sweeper to every hundred men, to sweep and keep 
clean the prison, who was to be taken from among the prison- 
ers, and allowed by the government three pence per day ; and 
one out of every two hundred was allowed four pence half- 
penny a day for cooking. In like manner, a barber had three 
pence ; and the nurses in the hospital, six pence a day. All 
these offices were occupied by Frenchmen, as was also the 
employments in the mechanic arts at six pence per day. 

During this month great numbers died of the small-pox, and 
some of other diseases. Several entered the king's service. 
Suspicions had arisen, that several taken in arms against Great 
Britain, were British subjects ; they were consequently taken 
out, and charged with having committed high treason. That 
they were taken in arms against Great Britain, was not de- 
nied ; but that they were her subjects, which was the most 
essential part of the charge, could not be proved ; they were 
consequently acquitted, and remanded to prison. 

We had but one clear day during the whole month of Au- 
gust. 

September commenced^ and we remained, in the situation 
just described. The prisoners continued very sickly. 

Men, otherwise commonly honest, when reduced to extreme 
necessity, naturally resort to the commission of crimes. It is 
a maxim strikingly true, that " hunger will break through a 
stone wall ; '' and it is equally true, that it will break through 
all moral obligation. Honesty and integrity are but mere chi- 
meras in dire necessity. Such was our situation, that it re- 
sembled more a state of nature than a civilized society. Petty 



24 THE PRISONERS MEMOIRS, 

larcenies were daily committed among the prisoners ; brothers 
and the most intimate friends stealing from each other. To 
provide a remedy against this evil, we appointed a legislative 
body, to form a code of laws for the punishment of all such 
misdemeanors. A tribunal was also formed to try and convict 
all criminals according to law and evidence. Many were tried, 
found guilty, and sentenced to receive twenty-four lashes 
equally as severe as is given at the gangway of a man-of-war 
ship. 

To show the force of habit, though it is a vicious one, we 
will give the reader a striking example. Some of the prison- 
ers were so attached to chewing tobacco, that the}^ sold all their 
day's allowance of beef to the French at the gate, to purchase 
one chew. They sometimes sold this allowance to buy soap 
enough to wash one shirt, but this was only enduring one evil 
to remedy a worse. 

By letters received from our fellow-prisoners on board the 
Crowned Prince, and the Nassau, prison ships at Chatham, we 
received information that the Americans were distributed 
among the French prisoners on board the several different 
ships at that place, and very severely used ; that they had 
vainly addressed Mr. Beasley, and that several had died and 
numbers entered the British service. 

By letters received from Stapleton, we were informed of the 
particulars of their march from Plymouth, which we promised 
to give the reader in a former part of this work. The reader 
will remember, that at the commencement of their journey, 
they were allowed a shilling a day for traveling expenses, and 
on their way, tliey had to pay three pence a night to lodge in 
a bnrn, or some public building, on straw. As they were al- 
lowed a shilling only, this took one-quarter of the whole. 
With much ado they reached Stapleton ; they found the prison 
at that place well constructed for the convenience of the pris- 
oners, within a short distance of theacity of Bristol : which is 
the third city in England, and situated in Somersetshire, at 
the conflux of the river Avon, with the small stream of the 
Froom, about ten miles from the mouth of the Severn ; tiiese, 
and several other small tributary streams, running through a 
fertile country, bring into market all kinds of provisions and 
fruits common to the country, which are sold at a much cheaper 
rate than at most other places in the kingdom. From these 
sources, the market at Stapleton, which is kept every day at 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 25 

the prison, is supplied with all kinds of market produce. On 
their arrival they found five thousand French prisoners. 
There are three prisons enclosed and garrisoned in the same 
manner as those at Dartmoor ; they were distributed amono- 
the French prisoners in the different prisons. They had also 
written to Mr. Beasley several times, and informed him, that 
their situation was bad, although much better than that at 
Dartmoor, and required his attention. But he was determined 
to take no notice. They therefore concluded, that no arrange- 
ment was to be made for their exchange, or that any assistance 
was to be offered from the government of the United States, 
made necessity an excuse for entering the service of the ene- 
my of their country ; which many did at that place. 

• How far this is a crime, when vve consider the quo ammo ? 
I shall take this opportunity to show what is the custom of na- 
tions, and what appears to be the law of nature. It is said, 
" If a person be under circumstances of actual force and con- 
straint, through a well-grounded apprehension of injury to his 
life or person, this fear, or compulsion, will excuse his even 
joining with either rebels or enemies in the kingdom, provided 
he leaves them wlienever he hath a safe opportunity." 

Now to return to Dartmoor. At a time v^hen the prisoners 
had despaired of any relief, and began to reconcile themselves 
to their hard fate, they were very agreeably surprised to hear 
that Mr. Reuben G. Beasley had condescended to visit them, 
and then waited at the gate for admittance. The idea, that 
their deliverer had come, diffused a general joy through the 
whole prison, and " lighted up a smile in the aspect of woe." 
The soldiers and guards were ordered into the prison, and 
turned out every man, both sick and well ; overhauled the 
hammocks, swept the prison, and opened the window-shutters : 
all filth was removed and every thing made clean, for the first 
time since our arrival. The guards were then stationed at 
the door, to prevent any prisoner from going in, to have any 
communication with the agent : we were told, that no man 
could speak to him, or have any communication with him 
whatever. At three o'clock, the entrance of Mr. Beasley was 
announced by the turnkeys. We arranged ourselves in the 
yard, in anxious expectation of the glad tidings he might bring. 
He appeared, attended with his clerks, the clerks of the prison, 
and a very numerous train of soldiers. As he entered the 
yard of the prison, we presented a frightful appearance, in our 

3 



26 THE PRISONERS' MEMOIRS, 



yellow uniform, wooden shod, and meager, lantern-jaws. He 
felt the sight, and seemed much surprised at the group. We 
stood in silent expectation ; he moved along to the prison ; 
but how were our feelings damped at this moment ! when we 
expected from him the language of consolation and relief, he 
only uttered, in a careless tone to his clerks, " that he did not 
think that the number had been so great ! " 

He entered, and cast his eyes around, the cold wet walls of 
the prison, and seemed to say, with a shrug of his shoulders, 
" I am glad that it is not 1 that is to live here.'' When he 
returned, we were determined to have some conversation with 
him. We therefore collected round him, demanded what ar- 
rangements were made for our I'elief, whether we must expect 
to remain in our present condition ? Telling him, that- if we 
must, that we could not long survive ; and presenting him 
with a list of names of those who had already entered the 
king's service ; and telling him all the particulars of our dis- 
tress. He then opened his mouth, and said, he had no power 
to do any thmg, nor any funds to do with ; but he would do 
his endeavor. We asked him the cause of so great a difler- 
ence in the treatment of the prisoners here and at Halifax ? 
There they had all the necessaries and conveniences of life ; 
here we had none of them. We asked him to whom we should 
apply for relief in future? We told him we had been to great 
expense, heretofore, and much trouble, in conveying letters to 
him, while he had npt thought fit to answer. He said the ex- 
change of prisoners was stopped for the present year, and that 
we could not expect to have our condition altered. With these 
unwelcome observations, he went immediately out of the gates, 
and left us to all the wretchedness of despair. 

We returned into the prison, lamenting our fate. Some 
cursed the day they were born ; some, the day of their cap- 
tivity ; some attributed all their sufferings to the inattention of 
the Agent, and others, to the government of the United States. 
We retired to our hammocks, and gave vent to our feelings in 
sighs and tears. 

The thought that we must forego all the endearments of life, 
and perish together, in a foreign country, among our enemies, 
was too much for our feelings to bear. The groans of the dis- 
consolate and sick filled the whole prison. Our Agent not 
empowered to act, and without funds ! We had now only to 
look to heaven, whose will it was to bring us to this state, and 
throuoh whose mercy alone we could hope to find relief. 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 27 

The winter was fast approaching, and the cold upon this 
mountain was very severe. The small-pox still continued, 
and the measles had got among us, and great numbers were 
sick with both diseases. The next day, conceiving they had 
no other alternative, a great number entered the British ser- 
vice ; rather hazarding the chance of escape, and censure of 
their country, than to trust life to the perils of this prison. 

Although 1 am a little before some part of my story, I must 
not forget to mention, that about the middle of September, an- 
other draft was taken from the Hector, now at Hamoaze, near 
Plymouth ; among which were the crew of the United States' 
brig Argus, taken by the Pelican. One Robinson, who had 
belonged to the Argus, had declared, that several of the crew 
of that vessel were British subjects. And immediately seven- 
teen, whom he pointed out, were taken and conveyed on board 
the receiving ship, St. Salvador, and put into close confine- 
ment, there to await their trial and execution, should they be 
found guilty. The boatswain, and a number of others, wound- 
ed in the action, were conveyed to the hospital, in Mill-prison 
at Plymouth. 

At the end of this month a great number had died, and 
numbers down with all complaints, prevalent in crowded 
camps or prisons. The weather much like the month before. 

By letters, received the tenth of October, from Chatham and 
Stapleton, we were informed, that Mr. Beasley had visited 
them, and his conduct and language at those places were the 
same as at this depot. By the letters from Chatliam, we had 
an account of eighteen making their escape, by cutting a hole 
through the side of the Crown Prince, at that place ; that after- 
wards the guard were increased and more vigilant. 

On the sixteenth, Capt, Cotgrave gave orders, by directions 
of the Transport Board, to have all these outcast Frenchmen 
in No. 4 collected. This took four hundred and thirty-six 
from the prison, and much relieved us. 

Before 1 proceed with the remainder of my story, I can- 
not but here observe the strange effect habit and corruption 
have in changing our common nature. They had been many 
of them ten years in this prison in a state of perfect nudity, 
and had been so for many years ; had slept upon the bare 
stone-floor without covering for many years, till the flesh had 
acquired a sort of hardness, like the stones themselves. 

This was the effect of gambling, which had acquired a 



28 THE PRISONEES^ MEMOIRS, 

greater power over them than hunger or nakedness. When- 
ever they were supplied with clothing, they never put them 
on, but turned to gambling, till they had lost the whole. They 
had often been supplied by their countrymen in the other pris- 
ons, with hammocks, beds, and clothing : but they no sooner 
got possession of them, than they went to the grating of the 
other prisons, and sold them, and gambled the whole away. It 
is difficult for the mind to conceive, how human beings could 
be possessed of fewer virtues or more vices ; or hov/ they 
could any further change their common nature to a bestial 
one without the assistance of a Supreme Being. It is a re- 
markable fact, that these men (if they yet deserve the name) 
were more healthy, though stark naked winter and summer 
for ten years, than any prisoners at tiiis depot ; though to the 
number of nine thousand. 

The French prisoners never received any assistance from 
the French government, but depended entirely on the British. 
Though I cannot praise the general acts of the latter govern- 
ment, nor am I disposed to flatter; yet they did a humane act 
which certainly dese'*ves credit. They took these four hun- 
dred and thirty-six Frenchmen out of this prison, clothed them 
well, and put them on board a prison-ship at Plymouth, separ- 
ate from all other men, except their guards, who carefully 
watched them, and prevented them from disposing of their 
clothes, and kept them decent during the remainder of their 
captivity. 

In the six prisons, occupied by the French prisoners, is car- 
ried on almost every branch of the mechanic arts. They re- 
semble little towns, being mostly soldiers ; every man has his 
separate occupation ; his work-shop, his store-house, his coffee- 
house, his eating-house, &c., &c. ; he is employed in some 
business or other. 

There are many gentlemen of large fortunes here, who 
having broke their parole, were committed to close confine- 
ment. Thess were able to support themselves m a genteel 
manner; though they were prisoners, they drew upon their 
bankers in other parts of Europe. 

They manufactured shoes, hats, hair and bone-work. They 
likewise, at one time, carried on a very lucrative branch of 
manufactory. They forged notes on the Bank of England, to- 
the amount of one hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling; 
and made so perfect an imitation, that the cashier could not 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 29 



discover the forgery ; and very much doubted the possibility 
of such imitation. 

They also carried on the coining of silver, to a very consid- 
erable advantage; they had men constantly employed outside 
of the yard, to collect all the Spanish dollars they could, and 
bring into prison. Out of every dollar they made eight 
smooth English shillings ; equally as heavy, and passed as 
well as any in the kingdom. 

Whether they are constituted by nature to endure hardships, 
or so long confinement has got them wonted to live in prisons, 
I will not venture to say ; but they really seem easy under it, 
live well, and make money to lay up. 

They drink, sing and dance, talk of their women in the 
day-time, and, like Horace, dream of them at night; but I 
have not heard of any issue by this visionary connexion. But 
the Americans have not that careless volatility, like the cockle 
in the fable, to sing and dance when their house is on fire over 
them. 

When any one has committed a crime, or becomes a nui- 
sance among them, lie is condemned, and sent to No. 4, to re- 
main during his captivity; so the Americans must dwell 
among the damned. 

On" the twenty-eighth, a large corps of French prisoners, 
taken at the battle near St. Sebastian, in Spain, arrived at this 
depot, and took their abode among the other Frenchmen. At 
this time, a very mortal distemper prevailed among the French 
prisoners, that carried off eight or ten every day. 

When any one dies in the hospital, his body is removed to 
the dead-house, a place made for that purpose ; after being 
stripped of his clothes, shirt and all, (which go to the govern- 
ment, or the nurse of the deceased,) the body is then opened, 
to learn the nature of the disease ; it is afterwards, quite nak- 
ed, put into a coarse shell, made of rOugh pine boards, and re- 
mains in the dead-hou%e for several days, till a number is col- 
lected in the same manner : when a sufficient number is 
heaped together to call their attention, a large hole is dug back 
of the prison, and all thrown in together, without form or cere- 
mony. 

The hospital department consists of a surgeon, two assist- 
ants, and as many male nurses as are necessary. Every 
morning, at nine o'clock, orders are given, by the ringing of 
bells, that every prisoner, wanting relief or medical aid, must 

3* 



30 THE prisoners' MEMOIRS, 

repair to the hospital to be examined, and receive prescriptions ; 
he then returns to the prison, where he remains till carried in 
again. 

The sickness among the Americans somewhat abated the 
latter end of this month. Many entered the king's service. 
As the recruiting officers receive a premium on every soldier 
they enlist for his majesty, they used every inducement in 
their power. An officer belonging to a Dutch regiment, 
thought it a good opportunity to mock de gildt, entered the yard, 
and began to solicit men to enlist into the regiments to go 
against the United States; but the Americans took this the 
greatest insult, that such a booby should think of getting them 
to fight against their country ; they soon hustled Mynheer out 
of the yard, and frustrated all his hopes of gain. 

The majority of the prisoners used every means in their 
power to prevent our countrymen from entering the enemy's 
service. We often, on discovering the intention of any one to 
enlist into their service, fastened him up to the grating and 
flogged him severely, and threatened to despatch them secret- 
ly if they did not desist ; but attempts were vain ; they justi- 
fied themselves on the plea of self-preservation ; that there 
was a possibility of escaping and saving their lives ; and if 
detected by their country, their death was distant, but here it 
was speedy and certain. 

Capt. Cotgrave, perceiving the great exertions that were 
made to prevent any entering his majesty's service, adopted a 
plan to encourage it. When any one was known to be dis- 
posed that way, he would send him a line, and invite him to 
come to the guard-house, where the other prisoners could have 
no communication wiiJi him : here he was kept till a number 
sufficient for a draft was collected, then sent to Plymouth, and 
put on board a receiving ship, and received their bounty. 
About one draft a month commonly took place. 

ISovemher. — The weather is much similar to that of the 
State of New York at the same season ; rain, snow, and hail, 
almost every day ; tlie prisoners without stockings, and many 
had been so unthoughtful of tlie future as to sell their jackets 
to buy food ; and the whole dress allowed them was no more 
than sufficient in the most clement season, the prisons being 
always damp, and the weather very rainy. We were allowed 
no fuel ; some had also sold their hammocks, blankets, and 
beds, to the French. These thoughtless wretches were now 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 31 

obliged to sleep, or rather lie, upon the stones the whole night, 
and when there happened a fine day, which was seldom, it 
was with the greatest difficulty the guards could rouse them 
from this stupor, and get them into the yard. We dreaded the 
winter. 

We received letters from our fellow-prisoners at other pris- 
ons, informing us that they had applied to Mr. Beasley, and 
advising us to do the same, which we had already done ; they 
wished to be informed of our situation ; this was done in 
poetry. 

The time had now expired for relieving the present guard ; 
this being done, its place was supplied by a Scotch regiment. 
Sympathy glowed in the minds of these gallant fellows; no 
nobler act has nature done than form the heart that feels for 
others' woes. They felt for ours, and though enemies, at the 
peril of life relieved them ; it was an act that superior beings 
might behold with admiration. Touched with this tie of na- 
ture, when ordered to bring out every prisoner into the yard, 
sick or naked, they often pitied him, gave him some relief, and 
left him behind ; though ordered to cut him down or run him 
through, if he offered to remain. 

They supplied us with late papers, and gave us all the ac- 
count they could of the affairs in America. They cheered us 
with the ao-reeable account of the Essex, and her success in 
the South Seas : we had friends that pitied us, though they 
cou4d not greatly relieve us. 

About this time a few prisoners from Plymouth, lately cap- 
tured, and lately from the States, arrived at this depot. 

The news they bring of the success of the American arms, 
animates every soul, and for a moment we forgot our troubles. 
By them the account of the Boxer and Enterprise, the com- 
plete victory of Commodore Perry on Lake Erie is given us, 
but no hope of exchange or prospect of peace. No alteration 
in our treatment by government ; the prisoners not permitted 
out of yard No. 4. The French go any where through the 
several prisons ; go to market, but the Americans not permit- 
ted to. The government grew more strict in their enlistments ; 
they would receive none but regularly. bred sailors, and no in- 
valids. 

At the latter end of this month a great number of prisoners, 
taken under the American flag, claimed a release from con- 
finement, and showed that they owed their allegiance by birth 



32 THE prisoners' memoirs, 



to powers in alliance with Great Britain. To Holland, Swe- 
den, and other places, and are released on account of their 
neutrality. 

Weather very cold all the month. The prisoners without 
shoes or clothes, obliged to keep their hammock. Fewer 
deaths than the month before. Yard covered with snow. 

December. — Cold increasing. Prisoners in despair. Capt. 
Cotgrave ordered the prisoners to turn out every morning at 
the hour of nine, and stand in the yard till the guards counted 
them ; this generally took more than an hour. Many of the 
prisoners were without stockings, and some without shoes, and 
many without jackets. They cut up their blankets to wrap up 
their feet and legs, that they might be able to endure the cold 
and snow while ihey were going through this ceremony. We 
complained to the captain of this practice, and told him it was too 
severe for the prisoners to endure ; he said it was his orders, 
and as agent he must obey them. We reminded him of seve- 
ral instances that must shock the heart of every feeling man, 
that he himself was knowing to the day before. Several of 
these naked men, chilled, and benumbed with cold, and being 
half starved, fell down lifeless in his presence, and in presence 
of the guards and turnkeys. This was a cruelty which ex- 
ceeded murder in any shape whatever ; to expose the naked 
helpless prisoner to perish in the pitiless blast of this bleak 
mountain, was an act that made our hearts recoil with horror. 

We remonstrated with the infamous author, but all our sup- 
plications and remonstrances were in vain ; the "wretch was 
inexorable ; his feelings had become callous by continuing so 
Ions among the suffering-s of the French prisoners. After 
these men fell down in the yard, they were taken up and car- 
ried to the hospital, and with some difficulty were restored to 
life again ; they were then immediately sent back to prison, 
there to lie on the stone floor without bed or covering. 

At this treatment I presume the reader will not so much 
wonder that so many died, as he will that any could live 
at all. 

The name of Isaac Cotgrave, agent at Dartmoor, of cruel 
memory, will ever be engraven, in odious characters, on the 
mind of every American who witnessed his unparalleled 
cruelty. 

On the 22d of this month the iron sceptre was wrested from 
his hand, and placed beyond his reach. A new agent, Capt. 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 33 

% 

Thos. G. Shortland, at this time superseded Cotgrave. Short- 
land was a man whose feelings had not yet grown callous by 
being familiarized with human misery, and at his first arrival 
he was shocked at the scenes of our misery, which presented 
themselves in every shape before him ; touched with compas- 
sion, he could not continue the cruel practice of counting over 
the prisoners every morning in the yard. , He countermanded 
the order which his predecessor pretended to have been com- 
manded to put in force. He declared to us that he would do 
all in his power to procure us some relief from his govern- 
ment ; that he himself would do all he could in his situation 
as agent, to assist us ; he very politely and kindly offered to 
forward to Mr. Beasley, or to the Congress of the United States, 
any communication or petition which might procure us any re- 
lief. He stated in feeling terms to the Board of Transport the 
real condition of the American prisoners. He ordered the 
doctors' assistants to visit the persons daily, and to remove to 
the hospital all the sick who had before been refused admit- 
tance. He granted permission for two of the prisoners to 
attend the market each day, and purchase such little neces- 
sary articles as they were able, such as soap, potatoes, to- 
bacco, &c. 

These relaxations in the morning of his power seemed to 
promise a bright day ; but the noon began to grow a little ob- 
scure, and, we are sorry to say, at last went down in blood, 
and left obscure the bright traits of the morning. 

The weather was incredibly cold upon this mountain ; the 
moor, as far as the eye could extend, was covered with frost 
and snow ; the prison walls, by being continually damp, had 
become like solid ice, and the prisoners obliged to keep their 
hammocks, for being allowed no fire, had 'no other means to 
keep themselves warm. 

The rigor of treatment seemed somewhat relaxed ; for our 
friendly officers and Scotch guards gave us as much relief and 
consolation as their station would permit, and we endeavored 
to cultivate their friendship. 

According to Capt. Shortland's advice, and our own neces- 
sities, we again made application to Mr. Beasley. In this let- 
ter we informed him that we were fully of opinion that the 
United States would sanction any reasonable overtures he 
should make to prevent her citizens from starving or perishing 
for want in a foreign prison ; that his being agent for the 



34 THE PRISONERS MEMOIRS, 

United States was sufficient power, and he had a right to 
pledge the credit of the United States, which was amply suffi- 
cient to procure any sum requisite for our relief. We farther 
stated, in the most unequivocal terms, that unless some relief 
was given us soon, that the prisoners had come to a unanimous 
and final determination to offer our services en masse to the 
British government, and at the same time transmit to the 
United States a copy of all letters from us to him, and set 
forth to Congress all our reasons for so doing, which would 
most undoubtedly cast all the blame on him. 

This month ended with increased cold, and snow falling 
daily. The prisoners did not go out of their hammocks, only 
at dinner, which was the only meal they had. 

January, 1814. — The year commences with as cold weather 
as we ever experienced in the city of New York ; the buckets 
in the prison, in the short space of four hours, froze ten or 
twelve quarts to a solid, and the prisoners must inevitably have 
frozen, were not the hammocks placed so near together as to 
communicate the animal heat from one man to another. 

The running stream that supplied the prison froze solid, and 
the weather was allowed to be colder than it had been for fifty 
years before. 

On the 1st the snow was twQ feet on the level, and began to 
snow again ; the cold somewhat abated, and it continued snow- 
ing the greater part of the time till the nineteenth ; it had now- 
got to be four feet on the level, and the drifts in the yards as 
high as the prison walls (fifteen feet), the water all frozen, and 
the prisoners obliged to eat snow for drink. The guards were 
all obliged to leave the walls and retire to the guard-house ; 
no sentry on duty except in the barracks. 

At midnight ; this dreary night, eight prisoners, thinking to 
take advantage of the night to make their escape, as no sen- 
tries were in sight, formed a ladder, and with it ascended and 
descended the first wall directly against the guard-house, and 
in ascending the second, the soldiers in the guard-house dis- 
covered them, and apprehended seven ; the eighth got quite 
over the wall, and made his escape. These seven were taken 
to the guard-house and there put into the black-hole, which is 
the place for prisoners that attempt to make their escape : the 
weather extremely cold, was likely to prove their last. But 
the fifth day they were removed to the cachot, and remained 
on two-thirds allowance, sleeping on straw for ten days. The 



1 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 35 



prisoners, soldiers, and officers, were now furnished with salt 
provisions, which are alwtiys kept at the prison against any 
emergency of this kind. Every man upon the mountain was 
now much alarmed, as only ten days' stock of provision was 
in reserve on the mountain, and there were now upwards of 
nine thousand French and American prisoners, besides fifteen 
hundred soldiers and officers, doctors, and a numerous train of 
turnkeys. 



LINES, 

BY AN AMERICAN PRISONER. 

O.N' the 14th day of Jaiuary, 

This night ordained by Fate, 
For eight poor Yankee sailors 

To try for their escape. 

Seven of them detected were, 

And in the guard-house lay ; 
The eighth resolved on liberty, 

By chance he got away. 

The night, being dark and dreary, 

And he had far to go, 
So this poor Yankee sailor 

Got hobbled in the snow. 

Discovered by his enemies. 

That forced him back again. 
Within the walls of Dartmoor, 

Oppressed with cold and pain. 

Shortland, bred a seaman, 

In Neptune's school was taught ; 
His heart compressed with pity, 

Methinks I read his thought — 

Saying, go into the guard-house, 

And set those eight men free, 
I'll show the sons of liberty 

There's honor still in me. 

The back house was at some distance, and the snow drifted 
in from ten to fifteen feet deep ; this formed an impassable 
barrier; but.Capt. Shortland, at the head of two hundred 
French' prisoners, all the horse of the garrison, and clerks, 
turnkeys, &c., after working one whole day, shovelled a pas- 
sage sufficient for wagons to pass. For should the weather 
continue as cold as it then was, all communication between 



36 THE prisoners' memoirs, 

that place and Plymouth, whence the provisions were brought, 
being totally stopped by the great depth of snow, they were in 
danger of starving. On the twenty-fifth the weather began to 
nioderate and the snow began to dissolve. 

The eighth man, who made his escape, had v/andered over 
the moor, through the deep snow, till by chance he came to a 
single hut on the moor ; the peasants suspected him to be a 
prisoner, as no person could travel in such tedious weather, 
and after examining him some time, he confessed he had made 
his escape frdm prison. They broughfhim back, and he re- 
ceived the same sentence as his unsuccessful companions. 
During his absence, all the officers and prisoners were much 
concerned at the miserable fate they were confident he must 
have shared, as it was impossible for him long to live, for if he 
survived the storm, he must starve in a few days : but it 
seemed he had reached the hut on the second day, without be- 
ing frozen in any part. The officers and guards considering 
his attempt so bold and fearless of death, and showed such a 
noble longing for liberty, were really sorry to see him brought, 
back, and declared that a man so dauntless as to dare such 
perils, deserved his liberty, and a reward ; and had it been in 
their power he would have been released. 

Here I must beg leave, though 1 fear the repetition of our 
distress may tire the reader, to appeal to the feeling of my fel- 
low-citizens, at this time at ease beyond the great Atlantic : 
what would you have done, could you have seen your fellow- 
citizens at Dartmoor, the coldest winter there has been for half 
a century, without fire or light, during the night, without 
stockings, and many without shoes, and nearly naked, half 
starved, buried in sno%v, upon the top of an uninhabited and 
uncultivated mountain, the camp distemper among tliem, and 
overrun with vermin ; great numbers dying, and death grimly 
threatening every man 1 

Say, would you not have pitied and flew to their relief, and 
left the gay circle of your amusement ? 

But few entered the service of the enemy this month ; the 
weather being so very cold, they dreaded the removal to 
Plymouth. 

Fehruanj, 1814. — The weather was more moderate, and snow 
dissolving very fast. 

We received a letter from Mr. Beasley, for the first time 
since our confinement, which had continued ever since April, 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 37 

1813. This is the first scrap in writing any prisoner in Eng- 
land had ever ireceived from him. It reads as follows: — 
'' Fellow-citizens, I am authorized by the government of the 
United States to allow you one j^enny halfpenny per day, for 
the purpose of procuring you tobacco and soap, which will 
commence being paid from the first day of January, and 1 
earnestly hope it will tend towards a great relief in your pres- 
ent circumstances. I likewise Vvould advise you to appoint a 
committee, by which means you can convey to me any intel- 
ligence through the Board of Transport." Immediately after 
the reception of this letter, we formed a committee of six, five 
besides myself, who were to see that every man had his money, 
and gave a receipt to Capt. Shortland, who was authorized by 
Mr. Beasley to pay it. 

In conformity to these arrangements, we received, on the 5th 
of February, three halfpence sterling per day (less than three 
cents). This money was to be paid every thirty-two days : 
as one month had passed from the time it was to commence, 
we received the payment for all that time. The day's allow- 
ance of cash would purchase two pounds of potatoes, or three 
chews of tobacco, which latter was five shillings and six-pence 
sterling all-over England. We returned to Mr. Beasley a let- 
ter, acknowledging the receipt of the money, and stated the 
great alteration this little attention had made in the prisoners; 
every man was animated beyond description to find himself 
again acknowledged by the United States ; that before that 
time they concluded that during the twelve months they had 
been immured in prisons, so far from thefr country, that they 
were entirely forgotten by her, and that she did not any more 
remember she had such sons as those at Dartmoor. The 
gloom that had so long clouded their countenances now began 
a little to disappear, and the prospect a little brightened, and 
we had hopes of life ; but still our nakedness was grievous to 
bear. In a letter of thanks to our government, through the 
medium of Mr. Beasley, we stated every particular of our 
situation, our past and our present sufferings. VVe stated to 
him that it could not be possible that the Congress of the 
United States had allowed that small sum for those few ar- 
ticles, and had not made any provision for clothing, which 
ought to have occupied their first attention, for without clothes 
we did not need soap. We must, therefore, conclude this sum 
was allowed by himself out of the United States funds, and 

4 



38 THE prisoners' memoirs, 

that we were extremely grateful for it ; that the United States, 
were they acquainted with all the particulars of our situation, 
would make immediately all requisite arrangements for 
clothing, which his Honor Mr. Beasley must be well satisfied 
we were much in need of. After this correspondence with 
Mr. Beasley, we formed resolutions to expel all gambling, and 
were fully confident that some greater arrangement would be 
made for us. 

Before this time seventy-five had entered the British ser- 
vice out of nine hundred Americans at this depot ; but now 
not a man mentioned such a thing ; he could not be persuaded 
to do it. This shows how much effect so little attention of 
Mr. Beasley had upon the prisoners. We, on the 22d of this 
month, petitioned to have the black prisoners separated from 
the white, for it was impossible to prevent these fellows from 
stealing, although they were seized up and flogged almost 
every day. Our petition was granted, and we greatly re- 
lieved, and the blacks, ninety in number, occupied the upper 
stories. 

The weather greatly moderated, but vast quantities of rain 
fell. The British government made an order to release all 
prisoners belonging to the King of Prussia, taken under the 
flag of the United States. A few days after they issued a 
general order, that all prisoners belonging to any nation with 
whom she was in alliance, under whatever flag they were 
taken, should be released. This order released manv Ameri- 
cans, who were acquainted with different languages, and 
could make a plausible story : the Yankees were citizens of 
all nations whose language they knew. • 

At the close of this month, we received letters from our 
countrymen on board the prison-ships at Chatham, and like- 
wise those at Stapleton, informing us that they had received 
the same allowance of three halfpence per day at both places, 
at the same time that we received it. They also sent a copy 
of a letter of Mr. Beasley, which is the same as the one al- 
ready mentioned. They also mentioned that they had had a 
very severe winter, but it was not as severe there as^ at this 
place. The prisoners at Chatham, among whom were great 
numbers that had been released from the British service dur- 
ing the winter, had received their wages and prize money ; 
which, as is usual with a generous-hearted sailor, they distrib- 
uted for the good of the whole. At the depot at Stapleton, the 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 39 

American prisoners were distributed among the French, who, 
in many instances, were very kind. 

On the last day of this month, by papers conveyed to us by 
our friendly Scotch guards, we found an account of Captain 
Porter's taking two large South-Seamen, mounting 16 guns, 
and upwards of fifty men each. He says they surrendered 
without firing a gun ; that they were taken by the boats of the 
Essex, and speaks rather slightly of the courage of the* British 
on those occasions. 

In March the weather began to be mild ; the snow was now 
mostly gone ; the prisoners could remain in the yard the 
greater part of the day, and their spirits were much revived 
at the expectation of receiving their penny halfpenny per day 
in a lump; but this was prolonged, and the prisoners began to 
despond, as they had received no information from Mr. Beas- 
ley since the second of last month ; but on the fifteenth orders 
were issued to pay it, and glad enough were we, for every 
man considered this little payment his sole support. 

The gates were now left open, and we had all the privileges 
of the market which were allowed the French ; we were al- 
lowed to go through all the prisons, visit the French officers, 
and gain all the information we could from London papers, 
which many of the French officers took daily. The French 
prisoners were much concerned at the fate of their country 
when the)^ learned the success of the allies, as every prisoner 
had been in the army or navy of Bonaparte, and were much 
attached to the Emperor. 

Having received no letters from Mr. Beasley, we now gave 
up all hope of exchange, gave ourselves up to our condition, 
and resigned our destiny into the hands of Heaven to deal with 
us as he pleased, during the long captivity which we believed 
we had to endure ; for, seeing the English papers filled with 
accounts of the success of their arms in Europe, and every 
day declaring their full confidence of a complete conquest of 
America, we could not expect peace, though this hoisting did 
not frighten us, for we knew the strength and valor of the 
American people. 

On the 18th we established a coffee-house in our prison, as 
the French had in theirs, and sold coifee at a penny a pint; 
but you cannot think it very delicious when 1 inform you that 
it could not be bought under two and three pence per pound, 
and molasses seventy per hundred weight. At the same time 



40 * THE prisoners' MEMOIRS, 



some of the prisoners received money from home, and all 
established themselves in some kind of business. Some estab- 
lished themselves as tobacconists; others as potato merchants, 
butter merchants, and indeed almost all kinds of merchandise 
were carried on in our prison after we received our second 
payment : we had " free trade and 'sailors' rights." We could 
purchase any article of provision in the markets ; coffee, sugar, 
molasses, any thing the country afforded. The gates being 
now opened, we traded with the French. We could buy 
potatoes at six-pence a score, butter at one and six-pence per 
pound ; and as for meat, that was out of the question aho- 
gether. Every man began to use all the economy he could, 
which he perceived the French did. Some went to work for 
the French at making straw flats, at which they could earn 
one penny per day. Others were employed in making list 
shoes, some in the manufactory of hair bracelets, necklaces, 
&c. ; while great numbers employed themselves in working 
the bones we got out of the beef, in imitation of the French, 
who were very ingenious, and would form the most admirable 
and beautiful sliips, plank, mast, and rig them all of bone. 
The French, for their amusement, had regular plays in a 
theatrical form, with very elegant scenery, once a month. 
Hamlet's ghost was an easy part to act, for they had only to 
show their natural visage, being mere shadows themselves. 
They had excellent music, and appropriate comic and tragic 
dresses. They also had schools for teaching the arts and 
sciences, dancing, fencing, and music, and each of these in 
great perfection. As numbers of them were daily receiving 
money from France, their prison was very rich. But No. 4, 
where the sons of liberty had lived* so long on the vapor of a 
dungeon, when will the same be said of you ? Perhaps some 
victim as unhappy as myself, when some ten years have rolled 
away, and the human mind, compelled by stern necessity to 
invent, and I myself have found my quietus behind the prison- 
walls, may tell a sorry story of splendid misery within your 
gloomy gates. 

During the whole month of March the weather was quite 
mild, and the prisoners gained their health and strength 
greatly. On the 21st we detected the contractor cheating us 
in our rations, by giving scant weight. We immediately in- 
formed Capt. Shortiand of the fraud, who examined into the 
fact, and had the cheating stopped, but gave the conduct 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 41 

of the contractor a very easy term, by saying it was a 
mistake. 

Towards tiie close of this month many of the Americans had 
obtained some remnants of garments from the French, and 
mostly all the boys had got into the employ of the French offi- 
cers as waiters. Many of these little victims of war were 
under thirteen — and there were many old men above the age 
of sixty imprisoned : bo^Ji these classes it has been considered 
contrary to the custom of nations to imprison. What use 
could it be to sacrifice the aged or the child in a prison ? 

I had sailed for many years in the employment of merchants 
of England, and had ever had a most exalted idea of the hu- 
manity and generosity of that nation, but by woeful experience 
1 found 1 had been deceived. Many of m}^ readers may, per- 
haps, dispute the truth of what I have here asserted ; but I 
appeal to thousands of my countrymen, who will testify the 
truth of what I have said, and thousands who have suffered 
with me will say, that the pen of Homer or Milton would fall 
short in describing the miseries of Dartmoor. 

Though the weather was quite mild at the end of the month, 
yet, as many of the prisoners were almost naked, they suffered 
greatly for want of more clothing. 

On the last day of this month we received a letter from Mr. 
Beasley, being the second ever received at this depot from 
him. 

I shall commence the transactions of April by giving a copy 
of the letter which we received the day before. 
Fellow- Citizens, — 

In addition to the allowance of three halfpence per day, 
which has heretofore been allowed, I shall make remittance to 
Captain Shortland, to enable you to have coffee and sugar 
twice a week, that is, the days on which your rations consist 
of fish ; my intention at first was to have the articles them- 
selves sent to be distributed, but it being suggested to me by 
the committees at the other depots that the value in money 
would be more serviceable to the prisoners, I have determined 
to allow three-pence halfpenny per man, two days in the week, 
being the value of those articles, and 1 hope the committee 
will find means to ensure its being applied to the purpose in- 
tended. Yours, &c., 

R. G. Beasley. 

With the letter was accompanied an additional allowance, 

*4 



42 THE prisoners' memoirs, 

which augmented the sum to two pence halfpenny, and we 
now received the sum of six and eight pence on the eighth. 
This was to continue being paid monthly. 

As it is natural to expect, this payment produced great 
spirits and animation among the prisoners, and was as welcome 
as a thousand pounds when we were free and had plenty. 
With this money the prisoners purchased many little necessary 
articles of clothing, such as shirts, shoes, trovvsers, &c., which 
could be bought very cheap of the French, who always kept 
stores of second-hand clothing, which were obtained from the 
officers. 

The weather was fine — for this place — and the prisoners 
healthy ; and, having obtained some clothes, and anticipating 
the reception of more, began to be quite comfortable in iheir 
situation, when we compare it to the distress of that cold win- 
ter they had just passed through. 

Our little salary seemed to command some respect from the 
turnkeys, soldier-officers, and subalterns, who were themselves 
as poor and meager as Romeo's apothecary. It brought us 
many indulgences, such as full liberty of the markets, which 
before had been prohibited, and we compelled to purchase of 
the French at the gratings. This was a great benefit to 
us, for we could now trade with the country people much 
cheaper. 

To regulate our rations, we were also allowed to appoint a 
committee of two, to attend at the store-house to see that the 
contractor gave us weight in those articles allowed by the 
Board. 

The day after we received our payment, we received Lon- 
don papers containing an official account of the allies entering 
Paris, and the complete defeat and downfali of Bonaparte. 
This news was a sore affiiction to the French prisoners, who 
were passionately attached to the Emperor, and not much less 
galling to the Americans ; for now some boasting pettimaitres 
among the British officers would come into the yard, in the 
most taunting, vile manner, to sport with tiie feelings of the 
prisoners of both nations : " For," said they, " we have con- 
quered France, and have not the least doubt but we shall 
shortly completely reduce the United States to colonies of 
Great Britain, and your haughty President become a mendi- 
cant vagabond." This insolence was too much for flesh and 
blood to bear. They declared they could have peace on any 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 43 

terms they wished, and, although we were yet prisoners of 
war, they considered us their subjects. 

Such language to prisoners who could not resent it, showed 
that the authors of it could be nothing better than the vilest 
caitiffs, and could flow from nothing but the meanest of envy. 

The French prisoners felt this conduct much more severe 
than we : for the conquest was already made, and they were 
obliged to look to a master whom they hated, to one who was 
the clioice of their enemies, Louis XVIII. 

Many gentlemen visited the prison to congratulate those un- 
fortunate men on their being restored to liberty, and thought 
that as they had been many of them confined from five to 
eleven years, they would rejoice at the idea of liberty under 
any monarch. They presented the prisoners with the old na- 
tional flag, and advised them to wear the white cockade ; but 
they declared, in the presence of those gentlemen, that they 
would prefer staying in prison all their lifetime than to serve 
any other master, or become subject to any other king than 
Bonaparte, whom they loved. But the sequel will show how 
lasting their determinations were, and how like they were to 
their nation at large. 

At this time to express iheir regret at the misfortune of 
their beloved emperor, and their resentment to the proffered 
flag and cockade of the new monarch, they came forward 
every man, wearing the tri-colored cockade, and the white 
ones on the heads of the dogs that ran about the yards. The 
white flag they destroyed with great eagerness, in presence of 
the visitors and great numbers of British officers standing on 
the wall. 

Shortly after this intelligence of the affairs of France, we 
had letters from Chatham, which informed us that, since the 
last from that place, there had arrived great num.bers of pris- 
oners there, and that many were almost persuaded in their 
own minds to enter the enemy's service ; that they had re- 
ceived the additional allowance at the same time as ourselves. 
On the 15th we were informed that there was a draft ready at 
Plymouth, and would shortly be sent to this depot. 

About this time a separate arrangement was made for allow- 
ing the crew of the U. S. brig Argus half pay, to be received 
monthly, and at the time the first payment was received, they 
received clothing. This was an additional benefit to our prison, 
as there were established in ijt a great number of shops for 



44 THE prisoners' memoirs, 



various branches of business ; this money circulated within 
ourselves, and every one derived some advantage. 

The preliminaries of peace being agreed on at Paris, the 
French prisoners, towards the close of the month, began to 
make all preparation for leaving the prison, and once more 
visiting their native country. The idea of returning to their na- 
tive laW, their homes, and their wives, was too nicely inter- 
woven with the threads of their nature to be razed by that of 
their aversion to the Bourbons. The change which was about 
to take place in their situation had in it too many of the en- 
dearments of life to be sacrificed for the love of any monarch. 
The scenes of their youth, the places where they had spent so 
many careless, pleasant days, the embraces of their friends, 
all rushed upon their minds at once, and they could not for- 
bear the highest transports of joy. They went to leave all the 
evils that men suffer in this life, and to embrace all the good 
and blessings of it. 

We had now an opportunity of procuring all the tools and 
utensils of the mechanical arts which the French carried on. 
And during their long imprisonment they had obtained almost 
every article that could be named ; all these articles we pur- 
chased, and every man turned all his ingenuity to some branch 
or other. 

Tiie weather being pleasant, and the prisoners healthy, they 
bore their confinement with as much patience as could be ex- 
pected. By permission, towards the close of the month, they 
established a beer-house, where small-beer was sold for two 
pence halfpenny per pot. 

On the last day of the month a school was established for 
the instruction of the boys in the arts of reading, writing, and 
common arithmetic ; to maintain the school, the rate of tuition 
was fixed at six pence per month per scholar, to be paid by 

them. 

May commenced, the weather was equally fine, but some 
rain. In the bustle of the crowd, we almost forgot our situa- 
tion ; the market square was crowded every day with people 
of every description — some came for curiosity, others to trade, 
and among the latter were many Jews, who brought clothing, 
and many other articles whiclr might be wanted by the French 
for their journey. The French prisoners were all in confusion 
making ready for their departure. The proposal was again 
made to the French prisoners to hoist the white flag, and wear 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 45 

the insignia of Louis XVIII. ; but they rejected it, and would not 
listen to an}^ argument. Now was the time to try the strength 
of their attachment to the emperor, whom only they had sworn 
to serve or die in prison. When the proposition was made to 
them either to hoist the flao- and wsear the insignia, or remain 
in prison till the last draft of prisoners in England, they then 
immediately, but rather reluctantly, hois'ted the white flag and 
put on the cockade. But it was a grievous sight to them, and 
they could not look at it but with the bitterest reflection, and 
the most poignant regret ; for they had for years endured all 
the calamities and hardships of dunger and war for the sup- 
port of their beloved emperor, who now must give place to 
those they hated. 

On the 10th a draft of Americans from Plymouth, about 
170, in great distress, arrived at this depot, among whom were 
the seventeen that were taken and put into close confinement 
by the information of Robertson. They had been tried for 
high treason by a court of judicature, but there not being suffi- 
cient evidence on the part of the crown to support the charge, 
they were acquitted, and sent to this prison, to be dealt by as 
prisoners of war only. In the same draft were a number of 
prisoners who had been released from British ships of war. 

On the 15th we received our monthly pay; this came very 
appropos, to enable us to buy all the furniture used by the 
French at a very low price. On the same day Mr. Williams, 
clerk to Mr. Beasley, and a Jew merchant of London, Mr. 
Jacobs, brought and delivered to each, prisoner a jacket, pair 
of trowsers, a pair of shoes, and a shirt. The jacket and 
trowsers were of very coarse blue cloth, much coarser than 
that of the English ; but it was such a dress as we had been 
used to w^eaiing. Mr. Williams then told us that We were to 
be clothed altogetiier by the United States, and these w^e had 
now received were to last us eighteen months. These were 
the first we had ever received from the agent; and it. is impos- 
sible to describe the great change and life it gave the prison- 
ers : they all cleaned themselves, and every thing about them, 
and laid by their yellow rags. - 

They began to attract the attention of all about them ; the 
British officers would now visit them, and were not afraid of 
being covered with vermin as before; our appearance was not 
loathsome to one another ; we were in great spirits now, and 
to prevent some thoughtless men from selling their clothing to 



46 , THE prisoners' memoir's, 

the French to wear home, we passed an act that every man 
should appear in his dress which he had received from the 
United States, to receive his monthly payment, or not receive 
it at all. 

We now felt a spirit of independence which had before been 
smothered in the wretchedness of our situation ; we could now 
converse with ease, and without that restraint which a mean 
and dirty habit will ever give a man in presence of those in a 
clean and genteel one ; that old, dirty, tawny dress depressed 
us with a sense of inferiority ; but now we could vindicate 
our country's rights in argument with any visitor ; we came 
out boldly, and demanded restitution for any injury or fraud that 
heretofore had been practised upon us ; every man began to 
see to it, how he should gain something more, now he was fur- 
nished with utensils, and set himself about something. 

On the twentieth, orders arrived for the first draft of 
French, and the day after five hundred were taken out and 
marched to Plymouth, where they took shipping and went to 
France. 

A very singular kind of conduct now showed itself in the 
British government. Twenty-four Americans, citizens of the 
United States, who had been taken under the flag of France 
about two years before the war between the United States and 
Great Britain, were now among the French prisoners at this 
place. They had often applied to the government to be re- 
leased as citizens of the United States before the war. They 
also, asserting their citizenship, had applied after the war, to 
be enrolled on the list of United States prisoners, but had been 
refused both their applications. They now expected to be re- 
leased with the French prisoners, on account of their always 
being considered by government as French prisoners ; but the 
government would not release them as such, but detained them 
in prison. They now, seeing they could not have the privi- 
lege of French prisoners, applied to Mr. Beasley, and claimed 
their citizenship in the^ United States, but received for answer 
from him, " that he could not receive them as such !" 

These men were citizens of the world sure enough, for they 
belonged to no nation in it ; they therefore remained unpro- 
vided for by either government. But we could not see them 
perisli as long as we had any thing whicli could be divided ; 
they therefore lived upon our charity the whole time. 

On the twenty-fifth, another draft took place as before, and 



THE prisoners' MEMOIRS, 47 

released one thousand. At this time, all the Swedish subjects, 
taken under the flag- of the United States, were released and 
permitted to go home. 

The French, who had been employed in different occupations, 
being now released, we applied to government to be allowed 
that privilege, each man employed at these different occupations, 
such as carpenters, blacksmiths, masons, nurses in the hospital 
&;c. ; and two hundred labourers were paid six pence a day. 
In answer to this application, we were told, that after the dis- 
charge of all the French prisoners we should have them allowed 
us. 

When ihe French prisoners passed out, they were all called 
over by name, and great numbers being dead, which was not 
known to the keepers, afforded a fine opportunity for the Ame- 
ricans to answer, and pass out in the name of the deceased. 
Great numbers, who could speak French, obtained their release 
in this manner. 

At the end of the month, another draft of one thousand took 
place, among whom, twenty Americans passed out in the same 
manner as before, the deception not being as yet discovered. 

At the same time, we received information by letters from 
Chatham and Stapleton, that Mr. Williams, and the Jew mer- 
chant had visited them, and supplied them in the manner as 
ourselves, and also, that the French prisoners at those places 
were released daily. Few died this month, the weather o-ene- 
rally pleasant, but much rain. 

Before I leave the events of this month, I cannot forbear 
mentioning one very melancholy and striking instance of the 
force of disappointment and despair ; where hope has painted 
glowing scenes of pleasure ; the heart sickens and the mind 
grows frantic. 

On the discharge of the prisoners, every man before he can 
be discharged, must return the same complement of bed- 
ding which he had received two years before ; he must have 
the same number of articles, let them be in ever so worn-out- 
state ; if he do this he can then pass, if not, he cannot pass. 

It happened, that one unfortunate man, called for in the last 
draft, did not brina: forward the articles of beddino- : he was re- 
fused a pass, and ordered back to produce them ; he ran about in 
great confusion and the most terrible anxiety to procure them, 
but could not find them ; he returned again to pass out, he was 
refused ; he had been immured and buried within the cold, 



48 THE prisoners' memoirs, 

gloomy walls of this prison, eleven tedious and painful years, 
he said : he ran and looked, and looked again — he could not 
procure them, and he was refused to pass ; — then, in the 
agonies of despair, he seized a knife and put an end to his suf- 
ferings, by cutting his own throat, in presence of his country- 
men and the keepers ! 

The spectacle was too horrible to behold without the deepest 
regret and sorrow ; it was a sight, that all-powerful Juno 
might have sent down Iris from heaven, to relieve his strug- 
gling soul from her united limbs. Many, through despair, had 
committed suicide before in the French prisons. 

June. The weather continued much the same. On the 
fifth, another draft of French prisoners was made. At this 
time, an order was issued, to discharge from confinement all 
French prisoners who had been taken under the flag of the 
United States. The Americans, who were ever watchful for 
an opportunity to make their escape, took advantage of this 
order to obtain their liberty many came forward and claimed 
their birth right in France and its dependencies ; being well 
versed in the French language, they bore a good examination, 
and one hundred and twenty-one were released in the last draft 
of French subjects. 

By this time all the French from No. 4 were released, and 
we had the whole prison to ourselves; but the blacks being 
mixed with us were very troublesome. 

We having purchased from the French all they had, were 
now well furnished with household furniture, such as tables, 
dishes, seats, and things to cook in. We now carried on the 
business of making straw flats for hats and bonnets, although 
not allowed by government ; by strict attention, we could make 
at this bussness three pence a day. 

On the fifteenth, we received our monthly pay, which never 
failed to come about that time. 

. On the twentieth, the whole of the French prisoners were 
discharged except a few sick in the Hospital. 

On the 22d, Capt. Shortland gave us information that all the 
prisoners in England were to be collected at Stapleton, as the 
Transport Board determined on that place for a general depot 
for all American prisoners. There were now in England, 
three thousand five hundred unparoled prisoners.' The same 
information was given at Chatham and Plymouth. 

We anticipated much advantage in the change of situation, 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 49 



and began to prepare for the removal, and from the authentic 
account we had received from that place, there had not died 
but one-fiftieth as many in proportion to their number, as had 
died at this depot; the change was therefore much to be de- 
sired ; the climate was much more pleasant and healthy, and 
the contiguity to the city of Bristol, where every article manu- 
factured by the prisoners, would find a ready market at a much 
higher price than at this place ; all articles of provision much 
cheaper. But much to our disappointment, on the twenty- 
fourth, the late order was countermanded, and Capt. Shortland 
ordered to make all things ready for the reception of all the 
prisoners in England, as the board had determined on making 
this depot the general receptacle for all prisoners in the country, 
as they considered it the safest of any in the kingdom, and they 
might have added, far more infernal than the Bastile. He also 
told the prisoners that he had orders to employ any number of 
the prisoners he should think necessary, such as carpenters 
and masons, to build a church near tlie prison, and a number 
of laborers to repair the roads ; also blacksmiths, coopers, 
painters, lamp-lighters, and nurses in the hospital, &c. The 
numbei', he said, would amount to upwards of one hundred. He 
then told us under what restrictions we were to work ; we were 
to be under the eye of a guard all the time, and if any prison- 
er attempted to make his escape, that no more Americans would 
be enjployed, and to prevent this, the following rule was adopt- 
ed ; they were to receive their pay, at the rate of six-pence 
per day, every three months, and if any prisoner escaped, the 
whole pay was forfeited ; this kept every prisoner watchful 
over each other, ibr when one run away, all the others lost their 
whole pay and employment ; besides, this was the method they 
had used with the French. 

We found this to be* a great benefit to us, for those workmen 
who went out of tha prison yards, smuggled in all kinds of 
prohibited articles, such as rum, candles, oil, and news papers; 
and smuggled out all the prohibited articles, manufactured in 
the prison. At this trade each man could make four or five 
shillings a day. 

There were now eleven hundred prisoners, and manufactures 
having got to considerable perfection, the receipts of money 
brought into the prison each week besides the allowances, 
were fifty pounds sterling. Besides this sum of money, many 

5 



50 THE prisoners' MEMOIRS, 



prisoners had friends in England, and received from them con- 
siderable sums. 

The prisoners now began to live, and got into good spirits. 
The latter part of this month 150 workmen were employed at 
different branches of mechanical business. At this time pris- 
oners from Stapleton arrived at this depot ; their number at 
first was 400, but was now reduced to 350. Seventeen had 
enlisted in the British service, eight died, and the remainder 
made their escape. On their arrival here, they were commit- 
ted to No. 4, which contained upwards of 1400, and was 
much crowded. These 350 were in a very bad condition, 
many were without shoes, and had travelled most of the dis- 
tance in the same condition, for the shoes they had received 
from the agent did not last more than three or four weeks. 
This was an imposition of the contractor, as the agent after- 
wards said he had learned. 

On the twentieth of June we were informed, by Capt. Short- 
land, that when the other prisoners arrived from Chatham, he 
would open the yards on the south side of the enclosure, and 
give us all the privileges of the other prisons. These yards 
being large, would admit of many amusements which that of 
No. 4 would not, such as playing ball, &c. 

At this time, viewing our circumstances on all sides, and 
seeing no hope of exchange or peace, we formed a design to 
make our escape ; our plan was, that immediately after our 
removal to the other prisons, to dig a hole two hundred and 
eighty feet long, all the way under ground ; this would reach 
from the prison beyond the outer wall. The success of this 
design will be mentioned hereafter. On the same day we re- 
ceived London papers, containing an account of the capture of 
the United States frigate Essex, by the frigate Phebe and sloop- 
of-war Cherub. The London editor said that the Essex was 
equal in size to a seventy-four. Had he said her defence was 
equal to a seventy- four, Capt. Hilliar would have agreed with • 
him. The garrison was again renewed with a new regiment, 
and the old one removed. This regiment was very much em- 
bittered against the government; their term of five years, for 
which they had enlisted, having expired, the government re- 
fused to discharge them. 

At this time the government was giving great encourage- 
ment to soldiers to enlist to fight against the United States ; 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 51 

this regiment was offered every inducement to join ; they 
therefore made it their business to make particular inquiry of 
the prisoners what was the manner of our warfare, and the 
dispositions of the American soldier^. I found they were very 
ignorant in these things, and easily deterred from their enlist- 
ing. I composed a song, and distributed it among them, after 
which not a man ever enlisted or offered to. This very iijuch 
enraged the soldier-officers of the garrison, who issued orders 
that if any sentry was found conversing with a prisoner, he 
should be punished ; but it was impossible to stop it, the sol- 
diers were equally desirous as the prisoners to converse. 

The fourth of July was not fur distant, and we began to 
make preparations to celebrate the day a second time since our 
confinement. We obtained permission from the keeper to 
purchase two hogsheads of porter ; we likewise had got a 
number of gallons of rum unbeknown to the keeper. 

We also provided ourselves with American colors, and in- 
vited all the soldier-officers, clerks of the prison, and soldiers, 
to attend and hear an oration that would be delivered on the 
fourth, which was the anniversary of American Independence. 
The prisoners were in high spirits, expecting to enjoy them- 
selves much better than they had done on 'the preceding one, 
when they were half naked. 

In the month of June we had but few deaths, and the prison- 
ers generally healthy ; we had rain, and many showers. 

On the first of July we received letters from Chatham, in- 
forming us that they were much concerned at a late order, 
which was shortly to remove them to this depot ; the same 
letter informed us that the prisoners on board the Crowned 
Prince had been confined three days without victuals or drink ; 
the reason why is yet- untold. 

On the second of the month the crew of the Argus received 
another payment of several pounds each man, through the 
hands of the late purser to that vessel ; this came very timely 
to us in the celebration of American Independence. 

By letters from Plymouth, this day, we were informed the 
reason of the prisoners being confined below deck on board 
the Crowned Prince. 

It happened that the boats' crew of that ship had been on 
shore and stole a sheep from a farmer, and the commander 
had had his table served v/ith the best pieces ; the farmer get- 
ting information where the sheep had gone, came and de- 



52 THE PRISONERS MEMOIRS, 

manded reparation for his sheep ; the commander, to screen 
the boats' crew, paid the farmer the price of the sheejD. 

The story of the sh(^ ep was soon known to the prisoners, 
who, having a dislike to the commander, one morning, as he 
was going on shore with his wife, and at the moment he was 
entering the boat, they all as one acrreed to cry blar ; he under- 
stood the meaniniT the very instant the sound struck his ear, 
and turning back, he ordered the prisoners all below, and to 
be kept there three days without victuals or drink. 

On the evening of the third, an event happened at Dart- 
moor, which ended in a very serious manner. A dispute 
arose between two of the prisoners late belonging to the United 
States' brig Argus, bv the names of Thomas Hill and James 
Henry; the quarrel growing quite warm, and not- being ended 
that night, they agreed to fight next morning ; accordingly, 
next morning, about nine o'clock, they commenced the battle 
in prison No. 4, and by an unfortunate blow from Hill, Henry 
was killed on the spot : a jury of inquest was called next morn- 
ing and held over the body of the deceased, and after hearing 
the evidence, the jury brought in a verdict of manslaughter, (or 
a killing not wholly without fault, but without malice.) 
Thomas Hill was removed and confined in the county prison 
at Exeter, there to await his trial at the August assizes then 
next ensuing. 

The fourth of July now having arrived, and all things in 
great preparation, we displayed our flag in the yard, with the 
following inscription upon it in large capitals, ^' All Cana'da or 
Dartmoor prison for Hfe.'^ This pleased the soldiers, but irri- 
tated the oflrjcers, who, dfscovering our firm resolution to defend 
the flag, and not having but part of a regiment in the garrison, 
and tiiey friendly toward us, thought best to be quite silent, 
and let us proceed our own way ; for if they attempted to de- 
prive us of the flag, we might rush on the guard, who would 
make but a faint resistance, or join us, and all the prisoners 
might make an easy escape. But the prisoners did not wish 
to niake the attempt, for they knew a reinforcement could 
easiK be raised, and make a vigorous pursuit, and were 
therefore willing to wait some more favorable opportunity. At 
eleven o'clock all the prisoners assembled in the yard. The 
British oflicers belonging to the garrison, colonels, majors, 
captains, clerks, turnkeys, and a great number of soldiers, as- 
sembled on the walls to hear an oration comj)oscd by a Yankee 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 53 

sailor, upon the circumstances of the present times. An empty 
cask was placed in such a situation, as all the strangers on the 
walls could hear distinctly. 

The orator of the day then mounted the cask,. and all the 
spectators keeping a profound silence, began his oration, which 
we shall give our readers verbatim, as it was delivered by the 
sailor. 

'' Countryinen and fellow -citizens : 

" This day we dedicate as the birth-day of freedom, it being 
the fourth of July — the day that our fathers declared them- 
selves free and independent from the tyrannical laws of this 
country. After many years hard struggle, and the loss of 
many of our fathers and friends, America was acknowledged 
by all civilized nations, a free and independent government. 

" For many years our fathers, and we, their offspring, re- 
mained in the most perfect state of peace and tranquility, and 
reaped every blessing that grows on the soil of liberty ; Eng- 
land, ever envying us the honor our fathers acquired by their 
valor in arms, when they declared that themselves and their 
sons should no longer wear the yoke of tyranny. Since that 
time, England has used every intrigue to deprive us of the 
greatest of blessings. First, contrary to the laws of civilized 
nations, she has dragged you from your homes, from your 
wives, your families and friends, into her infernal bulwarks — 
her ships of war ; there, after sufTering every degradation, from 
the terror of the lash, she has sent you to the most horrid pris- 
on in compensation for your long and faithful services. Eng- 
land, envying the happiness our countrymen enjoyed under so 
mild a government, the reverse of her own tyrannical laws, 
exerted every art to destroy their tranquiliiy, by offering insults 
to the United States ships at various times, impressing and 
murdering our brother seamen, within the jurisdiction of our 
own waters, and within sight of our capitol. Our country 
was passive, and wishing to remain at peace with all nations, 
bore these insults with a fortitude becoming a great and wise 
people, and was in hope that, at some future day, England 
would redress those injuries in a fair and honorable way. But, 
contrary to every expectation for years before the war. she 
grew more bold, and showed a disposition to add injury to in- 
sult, by issuing orders to make prizes of all American vessels 
not bound to her own ports or tliose of her allies. 

5* 



54 THE prisoners' memoirs, 

" All nations stood amazed to see our country insulted, our 
seamen impressed and murdered within our own waters ; our 
commerce confined and completely destroyed, contrary to the 
laws of neutrality. All this was done by England, and she 
unprovoked. Then, fellow-citizens, the results of all these de- 
predations must be a formal declaration of war, which could no 
longer be delayed. Our country then, prudently and wisely, 
mustered all their forces, both by sea and land ; England stood 
ready for combat fully prepared, and with the fullest assurance 
of a speedy victory ; but, alas ! for England ; within a few 
weeks after the declaration of war, the United States frigate 
Constitution, commanded by Captain Isaac Hull, fell in with 
His Majesty's ship Guerriere, and then retaliated for one insult 
by sending her to the bottom. Great was the astonishment of 
England. 

" Shortly after, the U. S. ship Wasp fell in with His Ma- 
jesty's ship Frolic, of far superior force, and after a second 
retaliation, she acknowledged her country's wrongs by striking 
her colors to the gallant Jones. 

" The officers and seamen of our infant navy now felt the 
ardor of our forefathers. 

''Decatur, in the frigate United States, fell in with a vessel 
of equal force, the Macedonian, the pride of the British navy ; 
and, after displaying the courage of injured Americans, he 
took and brought her into port. 

" The Constitution shortly after took her station alongside 
of the Java, a frigate completely fitted and manned with a 
superior number of seamen ; and again did the god of battle 
decide in favor of the injured Ameiicans, and sent the Java to 
the bottom. The tidings had scarcely reached the American 
shore, when anothei' laurel was added to our infant navy ; the 
United States ship Hornet engaged His Majesty's ship Pea- 
cock, of equal force ; and Capt. Lawrence, unwilling to make 
any distinction between her and the Java, sent her to the bot- 
tom, too. 

" This intelligence had scarcely reached the shores of 
liberty, when victories were proclaimed from all directions. 

"The British, feeling their pride wounded by the great ex- 
ploits of our undaunted seamen, fitted out the Boxer, with the 
fullest assurance of recovering her lost honor, and were confi- 
dent of taking our brig Enterprise, of much inferior force. 
But Divine Providence, ever extending the hand of assistance 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 55 



to the injured, decided the contest in favor of our insulted 
country ; and the Boxer was captured and brought safe into 
port, in the United States. 

" Our next laurel was reaped on Lake Erie, by Commodore 
Perry. He bravely captured all the naval force on that lake, 
to the amazement of all surrounding nations, and the disgrace 
of the British flag. 

" Commodore Chauncey, at the same time, had a complete 
ascendency over the whole British force on Lake Ontario ; 
while Commodore Rodgers is traversing the ocean in every 
direction, and destroying British property to an immense value. 
The United States ship Essex is complete master of all the 
South Seas, in defiance of all the boasted superiority of the 
British. The United States ship Congress is cruising on the 
coast of Brazil, and completely intercepting the trade of Great 
Britain to all Spanish South America, and defying any thing 
of equal size. 

" And now, fellow-citizens, this country, what has she done ? 
She has long boasted of her honor and her bravery ; and she 
has issued orders to her frigates, never to engage an American 
frigate unless under cover of a ship ot the line. She has like- 
wise 'endeavored to rouse the anger of the savage tribes in the 
wilderness of Canada, to murder and scalp your brethren in 
arms, in that country. But Divine Providence, still assisting 
your injured country, turned the ferocity of the savages against 
those who moved them to anger, and their vengeance recoiled 
on the hand that attempted to use it. And you, fellow-citizens, 
although prisoners of war, feel the benefit of belonging to so 
great and wise a nation. Have the United States not assisted 
us in our unhappy situation," and much meliorated our suf- 
ferings, though illy able while carrying on so expensive a 
war ? 

'•'And now, fellow-citizens, I conjure you to be patient, and 
consider your country to be using her utmost endeavor to 
bring about an honorable and speedy peace. In. a state of war, 
many stories are circulated in this country favorable to her 
success in arms, which have no foundation ; and this is done 
to encourage and inspire the soldiery to enlist in her wars ; and 
perhaps, fellow-citizens, many of you may honestly believe the 
reports, but let them not make you despair of your country. 
No, depend upon it, she cannot be conquered. En^^land may 
get momentary possession of one small city, or perhaps ten, 



66 THE prisoners' memoirs, 

but America is not conquered till every man is either taken 
prisoner or killed. 

" The success of our naval arms is a sufficient proof, and 
our country is now in triumph at her great naval success. 
Have we not this moment, as it w^ere, heard of another brilliant 
achievement upon the ocean ? The United States ship Pea- 
cock, on her first cruise after she left the stocks, captured and 
brought into port His Majesty's ship L'Epervier, of equal 
size, with immense sums of silver and much treasure on 
board ? 

" From the success of American arms, which have already 
astonished our enemies, we have nothing to fear; and we have 
the greatest reason to believe that the American cause is big 
with the most wonderful achievements ; that the exploits of 
our countrymen in arms, in the present contest, will astonish 
all nations, and be recorded on the pages of history, and remain 
in the choicest archives of posterity, with equal glory to those 
of Marathon and Thermopylse. 

*' Fellow.prisoners, let us then be resigned to our present 
unhappy condition ; and through the great exertion of our 
country, and the assistance of Divine Providence, who disposes 
;of events and governs futurity, we may hope once more to re- 
visit our native country in an honorable peace, and live happy 
and free." 

After the oration was delivered, the officers that were on the 
walls entered the prison yard, and expressed the greatest sur- 
prise that we should entertain a hope that the United States 
would be successful in a war with Great Britain, when she 
was at peace with all other nations. But for consolation to us 
in our present condition, we might rest fully assured that we 
should be released in a very sliort time by a peace, which 
would be brought about by their conquering the United States, 
and reducing tliem to colonijss again ; and such a change, 
which must shortly take place, they said must be imputed en- 
tirely to the had management of our President and Congress: 
we have now conquered Prance, and America must be con- 
quered next. We found them iirnorant of the strenstii and re- 
sources of the American people ; we gave them a particular 
account of the situation of America, her means of defence, and 
the spirit and determination of the people ; the great supe 
riority of gunnery which the American seamen possessed over 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 57 

those of Great Britain ; the truth of which was shown in the 
actions of the Guerriere, Frolic, Java, &c., &c. 

They left the yard much ciiagrined <it these facts, which 
they could not deny ; and remarking that they were surprised 
to find sailors so well acquainted with the politics of both 
countries, but that they believed they must be most of them 
Englishmen born, and that it was a very great pity His Ma- 
jesty should be deprived of so many valuable seamen. 

At two o'clock we sat down to our fourth of July dinner, 
which was composed of soup and beef, the best we could pre- 
pare. We gathered in parties, with the greatest animation, 
conversing of our President and Congress, for whom we sailors 
have the greatest respect ; and Mr. Madison, particularly, is a 
great favorite of sailors. ■ After dinner we had a song, which 
was composed for the occasion. 

The day was passed in the greatest harmony ; no quarrel or 
strife occurred to mar Us pleasure. The next day every man 
resumed his occupation, and seemed to enjoy a negative hap- 
piness, which arose from a freedom from absolute pain. 

On the eighth of this month, a friend of mine, for whom I 
had much respect, died ; and at his burial I took occasion to 
survey the vast tenements of the dead, and consider, within 
myself, what innumerable multitudes of people lay confused 
together on this moor ; how friends and enemies, officers and 
soldiers, the brave and the coward, collected from all quarters 
of the globe, of all nations, and of all colors, lay undistinguished 
in one common mass of matter ; and not a stone to name one 
tenant of the tomb. 

After having surveyed this great magazine of mortality as it 
were, in the lump, out of respect to my friend, I searched about 
and obtained a very slaty stone, on which I inscribed the fol- 
lowing words : 

Here lies the body of 

JAMES HART, 

A native of the United States of 

America, 

Who departed this life July Sth, 1814. 



08 THE prisoners' MEMOIRS, 

Under which was the following epitaph : 

Your country mourns your hapless fate j 
So mourn we prisoners all; 
You've paid the debt we all must pay. 
Each sailor, great and small. 

Your body on this barren moor, — 
Your soul in Heaven doth rest, 
Where Yankee sailors, one and all, 
Hereafter will be blest. 

The agent permitted us to put this stone up, and of the many 
thousands that lay indiscriminately mingled together upon this 
moor, this stone recorded the only syllable of the dead buried 
here. The life of these men is finely described in Holy Writ 
by the path of an arrow, which is immediately closed up and 
lost. 

We received our monthly pay as usual, and nothing re- 
markable occurred during; the remainder of the month ; few 
persons arrived, but we had expectation of a great number. 
The weather was rainy and cold ; the prisoners generally 
healthy ; few died, but the prison was very much crowded, 
there being 1,500 in No. 4. 

At the commencement of August, a draft of prisoners ar- 
rived, who had been recently captured on the coast of Europe, 
among whom were four men lately belonging to the private 
armed schooner Surprise, of Baltimore ; these four men, on their 
first arrival at this depot, were put into close confinement in the 
cachot, there to remain on two-thirds allowance, without ham- 
mock or bed, sleeping on the stone floor, during their whole 
imprisonment. When the cause of their confinement was 
known, it seems it had o;rown out of the following circum- 
stances : 

The Surprise was cruising in the channel of England, and 
fell in with, and captured, a schooner, and put on board her 
these four men, to take charge of the prize. 

Shortly after, the prize was recaptured by an English fri- 
gate, and, after takjng possession of her, found stowed away in 
the round-house (which is a few feet above the deck) a cask of 
powder, which contained but a few pounds at most, and on 
examination they found part of a match and a candle ; the cap- 
tain of the frigate, being suspicious of these four men's having 
an intention to blow the vessel up, took them and committed 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 59 

them to close confinement until he arrived in England ; he then 
reported them to the Board of Transport, and delivered them 
into their custod}^ and they, from these suspicious circum- 
stances, sentenced them to the punishment above mentioned. 
Whether the crime, had it been well proved, would warrant 
so rigorous a punishment, is not the subject of investigation ; 
they had the power to treat them as they pleased, nor had the 
sufferers any redress, for, inter armis lages silent, "the laws 
are silent amid arms." 

On the arrival of these prisoners, Capt. Shortland opened the 
south yard of the enclosure, and gave all the officers' liberty to 
go into No. 6. A few days after, a habeas corjnis ad testiji- 
candum was awarded to bring forward six prisoners, to appear 
and give evidence in the cause of Thomas Hill, then depend- 
ing at the next Exeter assizes, who was charged with man- 
slaughter for killing James Henry on the third of July. The 
termination of the trial, I shall give in a subsequent page. 

The prisoners having no expectation or hope of exchange, 
or a peace, now set about contriving a method of escape, some- 
thing of which we hinted at in a preceding page. The plan 
was to dig out of prison No. 6. The plan was made known 
to the prisoners in No. 4, who were expecting to be removed 
into No. 6 in a few days, when they would have access to 
Nos. 5, 6, and 7, which were contained in one yard. To 
have the plan circulated with the greatest secrecy that v/ould 
obtain the opinion of all the prisoners, without the suspicion of 
the guards or officers, it was thought best to have it done in 
poetry, and accordingly it was done in that manner. This at- 
tracted the attention of the prisoners, and we soon found the 
intention of each man to favor the plan. 

On the fifteenth of Auo-ust, the six men whom we mentioned. 
in the preceding page, were taken to Exeter, returned, and 
with them Thomas Hill, who was acquitted by the jury, and 
he remanded to Dartmoor as a prisoner of war. 

The same day arrived a large draft of prisoners, who had 
been sent from llalifax prison on board the transport ship Ben- 
sen. These persons, on their passage, attempted to rise and 
take the ship, in which attempt a sharp contest ensued, and the 
struggle was for some time doubtful, but the American priso- 
ners were overpowered, and afterwards treated with the 
greatest severity and cruelty. In the engagement several on 
both sides were severely wounded, but none killed or mortally 



60 THE prisoners' MEMOIRS 



wounded. Some of the prisoners were taken out and put on 
board the ship Commodore, and the remainder confined in the 
coal-hole, and kept on bread and water for several days. 

These prisoners were put into No. 6, which now made 
about eight hundred in that prison, and about twelve hundred 
in No. 4, who were not yet removed. 

We finding our number increasing daily, and no prospect of 
peace or exchange, now determined to put in execution our 
projected plan of escape ; every prisoner being willing, and 
not a dissenting voice among the whole, we mustered a num- 
ber of bibles in each prison, and began to solemnly swear every 
man to keep secret every transaction he should see or know of 
concerning the operation then about to be begun; when a man 
was sworn, he was strictly cautioned and charged not to make 
known, by word or sign, in an}^ way whatever, anything 
which might lead to a discovery of their design, on pain of im- 
mediate death in a private and secret manner, which would 
most assuredly take place without the knowledge of the 
keepers. 

After they were all sworn, and the fixed determination 
of hanging the first informer, a number of confidential persons 
were appointed as spies, to watcii the conduct of others. We 
also appointed other trusty men to watch the movements of the 
turnkeys and sentries, and see that the prisoners held no con- 
versation with either of them. We then divided ourselves into 
parties to work, and who were alternately to dig and relieve 
each other. 

After taking a correct survey of the ground, measuring and 
making it out, and taking the course, on the twentieth we made 
a be4;inning in both prisons, and dug directly down. In this 
perpendicular direction we must sink our work twenty feet, 
which would come on a horizontal plane with the road. 
On this horizontal plane we must then pursue the work, 
in an eastern direction, two hundred and fifty feet, which 
distance would carry us beyond the outer wall and under 
all the foundations which extended below the surface of the 
earth about six feet; if this work were performed we should 
then have a passage into the road. The digging could be car- 
ried on with very little difficulty : but the great obstacle before 
us was to convey away the dirt, and this, on a little considera- 
tion, seemed to vanish when we considered the stream of wa- 
ter in the yard, whicli passed under the prison at the rate of 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 61 

four miles an hour ; into this stream we threw great quanti- 
ties of fine dirt, which passed oif. We, as another means to 
get clear of the dirt, obtained permission to bring into the 
prison a large quantity of lime, under the pretence of white- 
washing the walls of the prison. 

These walls were made of large rough stone, and every 
night we made of the dirt a sort of morter, and plastered on 
the walls, and then white- washed it over. 

No. 5 prison containing no prisoners, and not being visited 
by the keepers, we thought best to begin a similar operation in 
that prison, as we could pass and repass into it unknown to • 
the keepers. In this we commenced-digging in the day-time, 
and found a hollow place undc the prison to stow the dirt 
away. 

.In these three different places we made our attacks, and 
very rightly supposing, that if one should be discovered, that 
we should still have another, which we could proceed in with- 
out suspicion ; we were apprehensive that the run of water, 
which passed through an iron grating at the outlet, might get 
stopped with the dirt, and lead to a discovery. We hastened 
on the work, every man as busy as a bee, and flushed with the 
hope and full belief that we should shortly make our escape. 

At the close of the month, we had dug toward the wall in a 
horizontal direction forty feet, without the least suspicion. As 
we entered so far under ground we found a want of fresh air, 
and to remedy this, we contrived a lamp to keep burning in 
the hole, that would expel all the axotic gas, or dead air, and 
bring in a constant supply of fresh. 

1 must digress for a moment, to give an account of some 
events which took place during this operation. 

In the meanwhile a number of prisoners arrived ; some from 
Chatham, some from the West Indies, and from other places. 
These, as soon as they arrived, were made acquainted with our 
design and operations, and sworn and charged as the others had 
been. Among these prisoners was the crew of the United States 
brig Frolic. These prisoners were destitute of clothing, and in 
a very bad state of health, which was occasioned by being so 
very closely confined during the passage, and their allowance 
so very short. During the month we had great quantities of 
rain, which was very favorable to our operations. The pris- 
oners were now more healthy than they had been before since 
our confinement. Those who had been sick for some time 

6 



^2 THE prisoners' MEBIOIRS, 

died. Those who had been here a long time had become used 
to the hardships, but new comers were sickly. 

On the last day of August, our subterraneous passage was- 
sixty feet from No, 5, and about the same from No. 6, and No. 
4 nearly equal. The dirt being very loose, and but few stones 
to obstruct our way, our passage seemed short, and promised 
success. 

September having commenced, and no suspicion or discovery 
as yet made, although the prisons were searched every day by 
the keepers ; but the holes being very small, and so nicely 
closed every day, that it would require the minutest search to 
discover the place ; but the hole was larger under ground, and 
would admit four men to work abreast. 

But, to our great mortification, on the second, Capt. Shortland 
entered the prison with the guards, and went directly towards 
the hole, and as he passed, he informed us that he knew of our 
operations in No. 5, but his informer had not told him correctly, 
for after a long search, they could not discover the hole. 

It was then suggested by his attendants to sound the prison ; 
they then began with crow-bars to sound, and after havino^ 
made the minutest examination, by accident found the entrance, 
to the great mortification of every man. 

They undertook to enter the hole, but after entering a few 
feet, their lights went out, and they could not keep them burn- 
ing ; and being unacquainted with the materials, and method 
used by us to light the hole and expel the dead air, could not 
penetrate to the extent, nor did they ever enter near all the 
distance. 

They were no less astonished to conceive what had become 
of the dirt taken from the passage, and it ever remained a 
great mystery to them. 

Every man was strictly cautioned, should any discovery take 
place, not to give any account whatever of the means they 
had made use of to light the hole, or how they had disposed of 
the dirt; and when they were strictly examined by the officers, 
they gave no other answer, than that each man eat his propor- 
tion, to make up his scant allowance. 

To prevent any further operation of this kind, Capt. Short- 
land had every prisoner removed from the yard which encloses 
No. 5, 6, and 7, into the enclosure on the north side, which 
contained No. 1, 2, and 3; but Jiaving no suspicions of any 
attempts to escape in No. 4, they let the prisoners there remain. 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 63 



After the prisoners were removed from the other two prisons, 
they filled the entrance of the hole up with stone : they sup- 
posed these were not eatable. 

We remained in No. 2 till the eighth, when we were again 
removed to the south side, on account of prison No. 2 being 
out of repair. This gave us fresh hopes. As the noise had 
not yet entirely got silent, we thought best to stop all operations 
in No. 4 for the present. 

In the mean while, our court of judicature was sitting, and 
several persons were arraigned at the bar, and charged with 
having given information of our design to escape; all the evi- 
dence against them was produced, but^ the crime being of a 
capital nature by our laws, required positive and direct evi- 
dence, which the court considered had not been produced ; and 
although very strong circumstantial evidence had been given, 
yet they considered that such evidence ought never to take a 
man's life, which must have been the case had any one been 
found guilty. 

We afterwards believed it must have been accidental ; that 
some person had spoken too loud, or in an unguarded manner 
in the presence of'the turnkeys^ for we fonud no discovery 
had been made of the operations in No. 4 or 5, although Capt. 
Shortland had declared himself to be acquainted with them in 
No. 5. 

After the bustle of the discovery had a little blown over, 
and the officers and keepers had ridiculed the futile idea of our 
making our escape, by saying they had guards and spies in all 
directions ; we then gave orders to the blacks in No. 4 to pro- 
ceed on with their work. At this time, the 10th, a draft of 
prisoners arrived from Chatham ; these were mostly men de- 
livered up from ships of war in England, and some few were 
fient from the West Indies, Bermuda, and New Providence. — 
This draft increased the number of prisoners at this depot to 
three thousand five hundred in all. 

When these men arrived, we were under great apprehensions 
that they would be ordered into No. 5, and in the hurry and 
bustle of entering, before they were cautioned, might lead to 
a discovery of the work in that prison; but happily, they 
were ordered into No. 7, and all the white prisoners from No. 
4 ordered in with them ; and all the blacks were now to be kept 
by themselves. 

They were directed to proceed as we mentioned before, and 



64 THE prisoners' memoirs, 

to report progress every evening. As the hole in No. 6 was 
farthest advanced, we formed a comnnunication to let each 
other know their progress each day, that all the holes might 
proceed with equal progress, and come out at the same time. 

With this arrangement we proceeded on, and on the l-ith, 
in No. 6, we dug down, and the next day had gone quite round 
the stones which were thrown in to fill up the entrance of the 
hole, and came out into the former passage : this was done in 
the night, and in the day time we carried on the work in No. 
5, disposing of the dirt as before. 

The work went on with the greatest care, secrecy and 
success, and every man was animated with the liveliest 
hope of soon gaining his liberty, till each hole had come within 
thirty-five or forty feet of the intended place of coming out. 

We could always ascertain the distance we were from the 
top of the ground by measuring with our line and rule, and 
had concluded to work that distance in one week : every man 
was now provided with a dagger, made by prisoners who 
worked at black-smithino-. 

When the work was complete, we were to make our move 
some dark stormy night at the hour of ten, which would give 
every man who wished, an opportunity to reach Torbay, about 
ten miles distant, at which place lay a large number of unarmed 
vessels, fishing boats and other small craft : we could reach 
this place a little after midnight, and then proceed as fast as 
possible for France ; on leaving the outlet of the passage every 
man was to seperate and take care of himself. When we 
were once out, we had determined to reach France or sell our 
lives at the dearest rate ; for, by this time, life was of little 
consequence to us, when we compared it to the miseries we 
must suffer, if we should be brought back, and therefore we 
were determined to hazard it at all events. 

But I hasten from our future resolutions to relieve the reader 
from his an.xiety, by showing the event. 

At this moment, when every man was well pleased with the 
prospect, how was his just indignation raised, and his fierce 
anger kindled ! — a man by the name of *Bagley, another Sinon, 
walked out in the open day, before all the prisoners then in the 
yard, went up to the turnkeys and marched off with them to 
the keeper's house, gave him information of all the operations 

* This man belonged to Portsmouth, N. H. 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 65 



and designs, and we never saw him after ; for could we have 
catched him, we should scarcely have tried him, but should 
have torn him in atoms before the lile could have time to leave 
his traitorous body. 

This Judas received the price of his iniquity from the Tran- 
sport Board, and got a passport to go where he pleased, and the 
public's liumble servant put into the cachot ; — but I can tell 
him, should this work ever reach his infamous hand, that it is 
the sincere wish of every prisoner, that he may fall, and like 
that other Judas, his bowels may gush out. 

The prisoners were then immediately removed to the north 
side of the enclosure, and confined to No. 1 and 3 ; and to re- 
pair tlie damages which had been done to the prisons, Capt. 
Shortland put every man on two thirds allowance, and toot the 
the other third to pay expenses of repair; tins he did for ten 
days successively ; if we had eaten the dirt up, we had to 
starve it back again. 

Our hopes were all blown up to the moon, and we left 
to despair; we had no prospect by which we could hope to be 
relieved, but every thing seemed to threaten us with imprison- 
ment for life. We again resigned ourselves to our situation, 
and placed all our hopes of life and liberty on that Almighty 
arm, which had brought us to these sutTorings by His Divine 
pleasure. Every man with reluctance now returns to his usual 
occupation, hoping to gain a few articles of clothing, which 
he stood in need of. The shoes furnished by Mr. Beasley, 
which were the poorest that could be made in England, were 
now worn out, and we needed others. 

It was reported among the prisoners, that an exchange was 
about to take place ; but as we had no account to that eflect 
from Mr. Beasley, we could place no dependence on it ; the 
onlv hope we had was bribing the guards, and that of peace. 

By letters from Plymouth, we had information that an action 
had been fought between the Essex, Capt. Porter, and the 
British frigate Phebe, Capt. Hillier, and a sloop of war. The 
action was long and severe, and much blood spilt on both sides ; 
and although the Essex was taken, the honour of the day be- 
longed to the Americans. She fought under every disadvan- 
tage, and gallantly stood the fire of both the enemy's vessels, 
and bore hard for a victory, till chance decided against her. 
The magnaminity of the officers and crew commands the no- 
blest sentiments of respect from every American; they de=. 



66 THE prisoners' memoirs, 



served no common meed of praise ; I therefore undertook to 
celebrate their valorous deeds in verse. 

A large draft of prisoners, from Chatham, arrived at this 
place the latter end of this month ; among them were great 
numbers of men who had been detained on board His Majesty's 
ships from eight to twelve years, and one who had been de- 
tained eighteen years. The greatest part of this draft were 
men who had been delivered up from the navy ; they were col- 
lected at Cliatham, and brought round by water to Plymouth, 
landed, and then ordered to prepare to march for Dartmoor 
prison, the sufferings of which they had long been acquainted 
with, by report ; but previous to their departure, they, antici- 
pating their treatment there, prepared the following motto, in 
capitals, and fixed it to the fore part of their hats: ^^ British 
gratitude for past services.'' With this on their hats, they 
marched the distance of eighteen miles. During the march, 
the officers tried every means' to persuade them to take it off, 
but they absolutely refused, saying it was truth, and, as pris- 
oners of war, they had a just cause to complain of the treat- 
ment and ingratitude of a government which they had so long 
served. They insisted that it was cruelty to make them pris- 
oners, after they had served so many years as good and failh- 
<tul servants ; and it was nmch more ungrateful now to send 
them to the worst prison in England, as a compensation for 
their lonf? and faithful services. 

The garrison was now reinforced by a large number of sol- 
diers, and the prisoners separated ; the whites in the north and 
south wing, occupying two prisons in each 5'^ard, and the blacks 
one in the centre. The prisoners were not permitted to have in- 
tercourse with one another from the different prisons, except 
on Sundays. 

The number being now very large, it was feared they would 
rise, and take possession of the guard-house, and then n)ake 
their escape. They had some ground to fear the event might 
take place, for the prisoners did not consider these walls, nor 
the soldiers, any very great obstacle in the accomplishment of 
such an undertaking, had it been their design. But they knew 
very well the consequence of doing this ; although, on the first 
sortie, the officers, soldiers and guards, must fall into their 
power, yet as the prisoners must all march in a body to keep 
thenj under, the alarm would spread overall England, and the 
militia be raised upon them, before tiiey would be able to reach 
the sea-coast and take shipping. 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. * 67 



Capt. Shortland was in daily fear of such an attack, for 
there was scarce a day but some dispute or strife took place 
between the turnkeys or guards and the prisoners, and kept a 
continual alarm. The prisoners would not hear any abusive 
language against the President of the United States ; and on 
the first disrespectful word from a sentry, stationed singly in 
the yard, they would knock him down, and he could get no 
relief till they were willing to release him, for the prisoners 
immediately surrounded him by hundreds ;- and the garrison 
declared that they had more trouble with four thousand Ameri- 
cans than they should have with twenty thousand Frenchmen. 
On the last day of this month, another draft arrived, among 
whom were the crew of the United States brig Rattlesnake and 
some others, sent from Halifax. 

The prisoners became sickly again, and upwards of one hun- 
dred in the hospital ; but they had much better attendance than 
before, having now a new surgeon. Dr. Magrath, to superin- 
tend that department ; he was a humane, skilful and attentive 
man, and a friend to the sick and distressed prisoner. I know 
of nothing more agreeable to the human feelings than the pre- 
sence of a friend by our sick-bed ; and this man administered 
more of the medicine of life by the sympathetic emotions of his 
heart than all the anodynes in the apothecary's shop. 

We had much rain and stormy weather during the month of 
September. One tedious month had now passed by, and 
another lay in hopeless prospect before us ; but our hopes 
were a little revived on the second of October by a letter which 
we received from Mr. Beasley, informing us that a partial ex- 
change would take place between the two countries. This ex- 
change would extend to none but those taken in the United 
States vessels; this letter was to inform the crew of the Argus 
more particularly, as they were the oldest prisoners taken in 
the United States service. The same letter gave general in- 
formation that there was great prospects of a speedy peace be- 
tween the two belligerants. 

Several persons made their escape hy hribmg the sentries after 
this news, and passing out in the night, with a soldier's coat 
and cap on, under his protection. But this' method was dis- 
covered and stopped, and eight onlj' were able to make their 

escape by it. 

We received the account of the United States ship Wasp 



68 THE prisoners' memoirs, 

sinking the Reindeer and Avon. The particulars seemed too 
ofallincr to their feelinors to publish. After reading the account 
in the London paper, I composed a dirge, and put it up on the 
front of the prison, in full sight of all the soldier-officers and 
guards, as a tribute of respect to departed worthies of His Ma- 
jesty's navy. 

Almost every draft of prisoners brought intelligence of new 
victories of the Americans by sea, and every British paper was 
filled with complaints of American privateers destroying Brit- 
ish property in their own waters, and in sight of their cities. 
The prisoners, being animated with the success of the arms of 
their country, could not forbear expressing their joy in some 
pleasant feat. The following anecdote has something of the 
features of the attack of Don Quixotte on the wind-mill. The 
prisoners, the night after the news of the Wasp, took a jacket 
at twelve at night, lowered it down towards the ground along 
the rope of the prison ; the soldiers saw it, and concluded it 
must be a man sliding down the rope to make his escape ; the 
alarm was given, and Capt. Shortland and all the soldiers-offi- 
cers at the head of the picket, entered, and hailed the man on the 
rope, but no answer; they then drew themselves up in martial 
array, and every man sat his teeth and screwed his courage up 
to the sticking place, ready for battle ; Capt. Shortland, an ex- 
perienced officer, gave orders to fire, and instantly a volley of 
musketry was poured in upon the enemy, and down came the 
jacket ; they rushed in upon it, and, to their astonishment, they 
had conquered a jacket. 

The keepers who had been so insolent the day before, by 
wishing Mr. Madison in the prison, now showed great resent- 
ment, and gave themselves many airs upon the occasion. The 
soldiers discovered a candle burning in the prison, and called 
aloud, " put out that candle ;" but the order not being instantly 
obeyed, they discharged a volley through \he. window; but a 
divine interposition of goodness seemed to direct the balls, for 
every one lodged in some part of the hammocks, which almost 
formed a solid column, and not a single man hurt or touched, 
though asleep in the hammocks. The next morning I thought 
the battle with the jacket and the attack on the sleeping pris- 
oners deserved to be celebrated in some signal way, and sung 
like the deeds of the gallant Quixotte. 

It had been remarked by the prisoners that, about the time 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 69 



of some reverse of the arms of the enemy, the keepers treated 
them with much greater severity, and seemed to wish to wreak 
their vengeance in retaliation on the prisoners. 

On the eighteenth, orders, together with a list names, came 
to discharge sixty-two of the crew of the late United States 
brig Frolic, who had been exchanged, and were to repair im- 
mediately to Dartmouth, thirty miles from the depot, to go on 
board the cartel Janey, then lying at that place with the greater 
part of her number, which consisted of prisoners late belonging 
to the United States navy and army. 

Those sixty-two of the Frolic were obliged to carry the bag- 
gage themselves or leave it behind, for they were allowed no 
means to transport it. Twelve miles of the distance is w^ater 
carriao-e : the other eighteen is land — this distance they had to 
march on foot ; they received a shilling each man, and one 
day's provision, at the commencement of the journey. 

By letters from Plymouth, we received intelligence that 
another cartel, the St. Philip, was preparing to take on board 
part of her complement at that place, then to proceed to Dart- 
mouth, and receive th'e crew of the late United States brig Ar- 
gus, and her officers, and non-combatants from Ashburton. The 
same letters informed us that all the prisoners in England, then 
nearly five thousand, would shortly be removed to this prison ; 
and, accordingly, at the latter end of this month they all were 
removed to this depot, and made, with some few lately from 
sea, five thousand and twenty. They were badly prepared to 
stand the inclemency of the approaching season ; they 
were all miserably clothed, and the shoes they had received 
from Mr. Beasley lasted but a few weeks, and they were now 
quite destitute and very sickly, and the weather cold and stormy 
for several days together. On the third we received a letter 
from Mr. Beasley, informing us that his clerk, Mr. Williams, 
was on his way from London to this place with clothing, which 
he would distribute among the prisoners captured since the 
middle of last May, and to those captured before that date he 
would deliver one shirt and one pair of shoes and stockings, 
which should be their supply for nine months. The old pris- 
oners stated their situation to Mr. Beasley, by letter, at the 
same date, and informed him that they were in need of cloth- 
ing ; that what they received in May was worn out, also their 
shoes, and that they were not supplied with sufficient bedding 
to make them any way comfortable through the approaching 



70 THE prisoners' MEMOIRS, 



winter, especially as they were sickly, and had the small-pox 
in the prison, and that they should not be able to endure the 
hardships of their condition, though their two and a half pence 
a day was some relief; yet as all the workmen were turned 
into prison, and not permitted to go out any more on account 
of one man, whom we believe to be Capt. Swain, of New Bedford, 
Massachusetts, taking a very sudden move and leaving the 
whole establishment without giving notice ; this left them un- 
provided with sufficient means to take care of themselves. 

Now the surly blasts of chill November had made all sur- 
rounding nature wear the sad aspect of decay, and the bare- 
footed prisoner stood shivering by the walls, in the pale and 
feeble ray of a winter sun, when Mr. Williams arrived with 
the clothing, as was expected, and on the third saw the crew 
of the Argus take their departure from this prison, to go on 
board the St. Philip, then lying at Dartmouth, bound for the 
United States. The draft of this crev/ consisted of one hun- 
dred, which was all that was taken from this place ; she had 
previously taken in her complement, except this number, at 
Chatham. Shortly after her sailing from Dartmouth she was 
so unfortunate as to spring her mast, aod obliged to return into 

port. 

At this time the Phebe and the late United States frigate Es- 
sex arrived in England. The editors who published the arrival 
of these two ships, made no remark or observation whatever, 
only barely said they had arrived. 

The reader will not have forgotten the circumstance of the 
four men, whom we mentioned were committed to close con- 
finement during the war, on suspicion of an intention to blow 
up the ship. We, at this time, made application to the Board 
of Transport, to . mitigate the punishment of these four men, 
late of the Surprise, and who had remained ever since in close 
confinement in the cachot, but our petition was not granted ; 
the board said the sentence had passed and could not be re- 
called — they must suffer according to the sentence. These 
poor fellows had endured the three months imprisonment with 
with a magnanimity becoming Americans. The prisoners 
seeing they could not get thorn relieved, agreed to allow them 
a half-peimy a month out of every man's pay, which was cheer- 
fully done by every man. They supplied them with such ar- 
ticles as the board would allow them to have. 

Our hope now brightened amidst the clouds of sufferings and 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 



71 



despair, by the reports from Ghent of a speedy peace, which 
swelled every London paper. 

The guards, both otlcers and soldiers, stationed here, were 
much disaffected with the government of the country; and in- 
formed us that the military through the whole kingdom, had 
the same disaffection, and that they had gone so far as to inform 
the government, in direct terms, that if a peace did not take 
place before the first of April, that they would lay down their 

arms. 

The battle and destruction of Washington had now crossed 
the Atlantic, and was sounding with great applause to the Brit- 
ish arms ; every paper was swelled with the most pompous 
description of the great battle, and the unparalleled bravery 
and magnanimity of their officers and soldiers, that had defeated 
and drove the whole American army, headed by Mr. Madison 
in person, and that they were in so close pursuit of him that 
he had a severe race all the way from Bladensburgh to Wash- 
ington, which they were disposed to ridicule by comparing to 
John Gilpin's celebrated race. 

They also gave a description of Washington, which they de- 
clared was one of the greatest cities in the known world ; the 
grandeur and magnificence of it surpassed that of Paris or Lon- 
don ; it contained thirteen hundred spacious squares. But they 
did not mention that those squares contained no houses or in- 
habitants. 

These stories could not gain the belief of persons acquainted 
with the American nation and its capitol, but we were led to 
believe that the conduct on both sides deserved much censure, 
and that the burning ot that capitol was a disgrace to both na- 
tions. 

Nothing very material occurred among the prisoners this 
month ; they received their montly pay as usual, but were 
more sickly, and the weather cold and tedious, but could not 
be compared with the November before. The prisoners, 
though far from being as comfortable as they ought to be, suf- 
fered much less, and were in a better condition to endure the 
hardships of a prison than the year before, now they were sup- 
plied with one pair of shoes and stockings, and allowed two and a 
half pence per day. They did not shrink at the approaching 
season so much as before. 

Mr. Williams returned to London at the end of the month j 



72 THE prisoners' memoirs, 

he had been with us all the month, distributing the several arti- 
cles above mentioned. 

As the season advanced the hard weather increased, and the 
snow fell in great abundance in the beginning of December, 
and the prisoners, much chilled with the cold, applied for per- 
mission to keep fire, as had been permitted to the French 
prisoners, but were peremptorily refused and absolutely forbid. 

But to make the best of these evils of life, they applied them- 
selves every man to some occupation; they endeavored to 
cherish and keep the mind alive if the body decayed, and to 
cultivate that noblei* part of our being, they established a num- 
ber of schools, and the young men and boys were instructed 
in them for nearly two years, and many of them, who were 
perfectly unacquainted with letters when they came to this 
prison, had acquired a tolerable education in the English 
branches of science. 

There has, from the earliest ages of antiquity, been frequent 
instances of men who have been weary of life^ and had not the 
courage and fortitude to bear those ills which are incident to 
it, and have, therefore, by a sort of false heroism, attempted to 
avoid them by destroying their own life The Stoic philoso- 
phy, which seemed to be a cultivated degree of insensibility, 
encouraged it, and called it heroism ; but the act is cowardly, 
and a great offence against the laws of God and man. 

I have thought proper to premise these observations, before 
I related the melancholy instance of a young man, a native of 
the city of New York, by the name of John Taylor, who put 
an end to his life on the first of this month, by hanging himself, 
in prison No. 5. 

13y the position in which he was found in the morning, he 
must have been all intent on death ; he had fastened himself 
to one of the stantions so that his toes could just touch the floor. 
We knew of no other cause than that despair had given him 
less courage to live than to die. 

Thinking it might tend to deter others from following the 
example of this unhappy victim of despair, I procured a large 
slate, and engraved on it the following inscription, which I put at 
the head of his grave, where it remains on the moor : 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 73 



Here lies 
JOHN TAYLOR, 
A native citizen of the city of New York, 
Wiio committed suicide, by hanging him- 
self in prison No. 5, on the evening 
of the first of December, 1814. 

I then put over each prison, as a caveat, the following me- 
mento, as it was feared others would do the same act : 

Whene'er you view this doleful tomb, 
Remember what you are, 
And put 3'^our trust in God alone : 
Suppress that fiend, Despair. 

Lo ! there's entomb'd a generous youth 
Despair did doom to die ; 
By the hard act of suicide, 
John Jay lor there doth lie. 

He hung himself within yon walls, — 
A warning may it prove : 
Tho' man is wicked here below, 
There's a just God above. 

Be patient, meek, and wait His call, 
Endure these ills of strife : 
For great's the sin of mortal man, 
That takes away his life. 

One knows not how to account for the origin of that act 
which takes away one's own life : self-love and self-preserva- 
tion are so deeply rooted in the very nature of all living crea- 
tures, that it is the ultimate motive of all actions to endeavor to 
sustain and preserve life ; fear of destroying it is so instinctive 
in all animals that they seem to flee from danger without any 
reasoning in the act, and almost without knowing when the vo- 
lition begins. 

But the suicide reverses everything ; he does an act which 
is not natural, not rational, not desirable, and dangerous ; he 
rushes into the presence of his God with all his former crimes, 
and this most henious of all brings him there. 

7 



74 THE prisoners' memoirs, 

From the first to the twenty-sixth nothing material occurred, 
but a constant fall of snow every day ; but the season was less 
severe than that of the year before. 

In the interim, prisoners arrived from different quarters of 
the globe ; some taken in Canada on the lakes, and others on 
the land ; and amongst these arrivals was the crew of the pri- 
vateer Leo, captured ofi'the coast of Portugal. 

On the twenty-ninth, we were most agreeably surprised with 
the joyful tidings of peace ! The preliminaries were an- 
nounced in the London paper which we received this day, and 
the news was confirmed by a letter from Mr. Beasley, received 
the same day, stating that the treaty had been signed by the 
Commissioners at Ghent, on the 24th, and that the sloop-of-war 
Favorite would sail with the treat}^ on the second of January, 
one thousand eight hundred and fifteen, with all possible speed, 
for the United States, and that three months would release 
every man from confinement. 

Language is too feeble to describe the transports of joy that 
so suddenly and unexpectedly filled every heart. Every man 
forgot the many tedious days and nights he had so often num- 
bered over within these prison walls. The memory of his bet- 
ter days rose fresh in his mind, and he once more hoped to re- 
turn to his native country, which he had so long despaired of 
ever revisiting ; his liberty, the embraces of his friends, he 
knew better how to prize by being so long deprived of them. 
The delicious fruits of plenty he could by his imagination 
taste. 

The prison was now in great confusion and bustle in pre- 
paring to celebrate the peace, which we were confident would 
be honorable to our country. We were confident that the 
ground- work of the treaty must be free trade and sailors' rights, 
and made arrangements to celebrate it in a manner conforma- 
ble to the rights of the ocean. 

We obtained a quantity of powder of the soldiers, unknown 
to the keepers, and made large cartridges, wound them up in 
twine, so that when exploded would make a report as loud as 
a six-pounder ; we then procured a large ensign, and a pen- 
dant for each prison ; we prepared a white flag in the centre, 
painted in large capitals, " Free Trade and Sailors' Rights." 
The next morning, to the astonishment of the officers and 
guards, we displayed the flags on the top of each prison ; and 
on No. 3, which was styled the Commodore, displayed the 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 75 

white flag with the above motto, and at the same time fired a 
salute of seventeen rounds. 

Shortly after, Capt. Shortland entered the yard, and politely 
requested the white flag, containing the motto, to be taken 
down, as it would draw censure, upon him from the govern- 
ment, by holding out inducements for the sailors to mutinise : 
he said the government of Great Britain took care to suppress 
all such inflammatory mottoes. But the prisoners were too 
full of spirits to comply with the request at that time. They 
continued it till towards evening, when he again entered and 
solicited us to take it down, or evervthinor would be in confu- 
sion ; he said if we would take, the motto-flag down, he would 
hoist an American ensiojn on one end of his own house, and a 
British one on the other end ; and if we were not contented 
with this he would order them all down ; we then told him, 
out of respect for him, we would take them all down, and 
wait till the ratification of peace before we displayed them 
ao;ain. 

On the thirty-first of this month arrived a draft of prisoners, 
among whom whom were many who had given themselves up 
as American citizens, and claimed their right to a citizenship, 
and refused to act on board his Majesty's ships any longer ; 
these the prisoners did not give a very welcome reception, for 
they had delayed till the act had becoirjC a wilful aiding and 
assisting the enemy, and the mischief now over. The constant 
cry among the sailors, who are great friends to Uncle Sam, 
was, " Damn my eyes if he han't stood it like a man." 

Among those prisoners who had declared themselves citi- 
zens of the United States, were six who had been in the ene- 
my's service for many years, and were on board His Majesty's 
ship Pelican when she engaged the United States brig Argus, 
and took a very active part in the action against the Argus ; 
every man of them had been appointed to some petty oflice on 
board the Pelican. But, supposing a peace would shortly be 
concluded between the two nations, they had thought best to 
claim a citizenship, and obtain their release. This informa- 
tion soon spread among all the prisoners, and enraged them to 
the highest degree at their conduct ; and being flushed with 
high spirits with the late news of peace, were about to proceed 
to extremities with them, and they, finding their lives were in 
danger, applied to Capt. Shortland for protection, who entered 
the prison yard with guards and took these traitorous villains 



76 THE prisoners' memoirs, 

along, and we believe they went back into his Majesty's ser- 
vice, as the next day they were conveyed to Plymouth, and we 
heard no more of them. 

The weather was now very severe, and the oldest prisoners 
had not received any clothing since May, and were much in 
need of jackets and trowers , of this fact the prisoners were a 
self-evident and naked truth. Many were sick in the hos- 
pital. 

December thirty-first, 1814. Statement of prisoners in prison 
at this depot : 

Prisoners delivered up from the British navy, - 1978 
United States' and privateers' men, those taken in 
merchant vessels, 3348 



Total, exclusive of those exchanged, . - . - 5326 

Mr. Beasley, agent, had visited them once. They had re- 
ceived from him one jacket, one pair of trowsers, two shirts, 
two pair of shoes, and two pair of stockings, each man. 

Received from the British government, one hammock, one 
blanket, one horse rug, one bed, one yellow jacket, one pair of 
trowers, one waistcoat, one pair of wooden shoes, and one cap. 

Received in cash one and a half pence, to which was added 
one penny more after two months, each man per day, from the 
first of January, 1814. 

The weather still continued cold, and the oldest prisoners 
had not as yet received any shoes or clothes, but were daily 
expecting them from Mr. Beasley. 

We had been in this cold and dreary mansion twenty-one 
months, and the above items were all the assistance ^ve had re- 
ceived from Beasley, the only person in this foreign land of our 
enemies to whom we could look for any assistance, or from 
whom we had any right to expect it. 

Our ears had been constantly assailed with the groans of the 
sick and the dying ; pestilence and disease had been our con- 
stant companions; our minds had become almost distracted be- 
twixt the grief for our departed friends and fellow-prisoners 
and the hunger and want of our own body. From such along 
series of incessant sufierings, it is natural to suppose that the 
bodies were emaciated and the mind debilitated ; and much of 
the sameness that may appear in this narrative is owing to a 
uniform state of misery, which will not admit of a variety in 
the description. 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 77 

Capt. Short! and had got information on the second of" No- 
vember, 1815, that the prisoners had counterfeited three shil- 
ling pieces, and passed them to the market people, for their 
country produce, and shortly after he detected two men attempt- 
ing to pass bad money ; he had them apprehended immediately, 
and sent to the cachot. 

Nothing worthy of note occurred till the twentieth, when 
two men lately arrived were discovered to be the same who 
had entered the British service the winter before. After hav- 
ing received many insults, and much hard usage, on board the 
war ships, they had got tired of their situations, and claimed 
their citizenship and got themselves delivered up and sent to 
prison again, which they considered the least of the two evils. 

Their conduct on board the ships, was no doubt as disgrace- 
ful as the act they committed to bring them there ; they shifted 
from ship to ship, till the one wherein they claimed their citizen- 
ship was ignorant of the manner they had come into the ser- 
vice. The prisoners being highly enraged at such conduct, 
made strict inquiry into the matter, and found the facts as above 
mentioned. — After holding consultations, many were for putting 
them to immediate death, others were for flogging them as se- 
verely as they could bear, and every man for giving them 
some condign punishment ; but at last it was unanimously con- 
cluded to put upon them a mark, which would be a lasting 
stigma, and an example for others. They seized and took the 
traitors into prison, and fastened them to a table, so that they 
could not resist, and then, with needles and India ink, pricked 
U. S. on one cheek, and T. on the other ; which is United 
States Traitor. After we let them go, they were taken imme- 
diately to the hospital, and tl.^ir faces blistered on both sides, 
to endeavor to extract the ink, but this only made it brighter 
and sink deeper in. The doctors reported the traitors to be in 
a very dangerous state, and that their lives were despaired of. 
If this had been the case, it must only proceed from the applica- 
tion they had made use of, for no harm could arise from marking. 

The next day, Capt Short! and being oifended at the treat- 
ment of his friends had received, sent and had three men taken, 
whom he suspected were concerned in the affair, and put them 
into the cachot, where they were examined not long after !)y the 
King's solicitor, and there ordered to remain till the next Exeter 
assizes, then and there to be tried by the laws of this country. 
On the twenty.fifth arrived five hundred suits of clothes, which 

were distributed among those who had last arrived. 

'7* 



78 THE prisoners' memoirs. 

The weather being very severe, and great quantities of snow 
falling, the men were obliged to keep within doors. On the 
same day arrived a regiment of regular troops, who themselves 
had been prisoners in France for many years during the late 
war between that nation and England. — They were much 
disgusted with the treatment we received here, and exclaimed 
against the authors of it, whoever they might be, and declared 
they had not received such treatment in France. 

At this time, the govenmient not being so strict in their 
charge the military, and the keepers not so strict in putting 
them in execution, and these new guards being very friendly, 
gave us a fine opportunity to escape over the walls, and many 
made their escape in dark stormy nights. This continued for 
some time, till one man was taken on the wall, in the very act ; 
then it was stopped, and strict orders given. 

On the twenty-sixth a draft of prisoners arrived, among 
whom were the crew of the privateer Neuf-Chattel of New 
York, lately captured, and two navy officers captured on the 
lakes. On the twenty-eighth these officers received their pa- 
role, and proceeded on to Ashburton, where all the paroled 
officers were stationed. 

Nantucket Neutrality. 

On the thirtieth, Sir Isaac Coffin arrived with another British 
admiral ; Sir Isaac is a native of Massachusetts, and feeling 
some partiality to his native statesmen, requested Capt. Short- 
land to permit all the men who belonged to Nantucket to come 
alone into market square, which request was of course granted. 
He himself and the other admiral, whose name we did not 
learn, held a long conversation with the Nantucket men, and 
inquired the particulars of their birth, their friends and places 
of residence; they then told tiiem, should the war continue, 
they would be released, on account of belonging to a neutral 
Country. — They then took an affectionate leave of the citizens 
of that neutral nation, and went away. Such are the advan- 
tages derived from being a neutral nation in the time of war. 

February commences with much snow and cold ; the prison- 
ners in great anxiety for tlie ratification of the treaty. 

On the fourtii arrived a draft of prisoners, lately captured in 
the privateer Brutus. At this time a new, and most dreadful 
calamity now alarmed and endangered the life of every man ; 
the African pox had, by some unfortunate means, got among 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 79 

the prisoners, and threatened destruction to every living soul. 
The disorder was so violent that when it attacked a person, 
he had nothing to expect but immediate death ; numbers 
died daily. 

On the fifth, the London papers mentioned two American 
frigates cruising in the channel, which excited great alarm. 

On the sixth, the pestilence had grown so mortal, that the 
chief surgeon in England visited the prison ; he imagined the 
distemper to arise from a want of pure air ; that so many 
people crowded together in one building must render the air 
very impure, and unfit for respiration. He tried the differ- 
ence of temperature of the air in the prison, and outside, 
which he found to differ twenty-five degrees by Farenheit's 
thermometer, the air being much warmer inside. This differ- 
ence of heat arose entirely from the heat of the human body, 
as no fire was kept in the prisons ; each prison now contained 
about 1200 persons on an average. It is highly probable the 
distemper had generated itself in the bad state of air, and had 
not been introduced from abroad, as was first supposed. 

On the eighth arrived an order from tlie Board of Transport, 
for Capt. Shortland to ascertain the number and description of 
all prisoners belonging to the Island of Nantucket, for the pur- 
pose of giving them their discharge ; like the citizens of Den- 
mark and Sweden, they were neutral. 

On the tenth arrived a draft of prisoners, lately captured on 
their voyage to France ; on the same day a number of prison- 
ers were called on to give evidence on the part of the crown, 
concerning the markincr the traitors in the cheek. 

The king's solictor was a long while busy in endeavouring 
to obtain information, but all the satisfaction he got was, that 
they had heard by report that the men that marked the traitors, 
were to be tried at Exeter the next assizes. At the same time 
a small quantity of clothing arrived from Mr. Bepsley, who 
it seemed always took care to send clothing to those who last 
arrived, as in this instance, although they had not been prison- 
ers but a few weeks ; he seemed to have an idea that they 
always come into prison naked, and when they were there, one 
suit would last them all their life ; for the oldest prisoners had 
not received any clothing since the last May, and it was now 
ten months, and every garment entirely worn out. He sup- 
posed, that during two years imprisonment, such as we had had, 
we must have got used to every species of hardship, and that 



80 THE prisoners' MEMOIRS, 

going naked was so slight an evil that we did not mind it 
at all. 

During the interval of time since the peace, another slight 
evil, somewhat similar to the above, had beJallen us, for the 
Contractor, seeing we were shortly to go to a land of plenty, 
was determined to show us the difference in a man's feelings 
between eating and going without ; so he gave us no more 
than the simpleton gave his horse while learning him to live 
without eating. 

On the thirteenth, one of the four prisoners, whom we men- 
tioned before were sentenced last August to remain in the 
cachot during the war, watched an opportunity to get among 
the other prisoners in the yard, being let into the yard of that 
building for the benefit of the fresh air, and seeing the atten- 
tion of the turnkeys and soldiers occupied by some other ob- 
ject, at this time ju.iiped ov3r the iron railing that separated 
this building from the yards of Nos. 1, 2, and 3, and got undis- 
covered amongst the other prisoners ; the morning following 
he was missed by the keepers, and information given to Capt. 
Shortland, who demanded the man from among us immediately 
that he be returned to the cachot again. 

The prisoners positively refused to give the man up, and 
declared that no force of arms should wrest him from their 
protection. He then ordered the market closed, and would 
not allow any communication with it, and refused the prisoners 
every priviles;"e, and gave them only their allowance. 

On the fouiteenth, he entered the yard at the head of two 
hundred soldiers with fixed bayonets, and ordered every pris- 
oner to retire within the prisons, that search might be made 
for the prisoner, and he again remanded to the cachot; but 
all the prisoners having previously agreed to stand by each 
other, and if they attempted to use any violence, to surround 
and disarm them ; a signal was given to surround, and the 
soldiers were immediately surrounded, and the intention made 
known to the officers, and advised to retire, unless they were 
determined to risk the consequence. They then very pru- 
dently ordered the soldiers to fall back, and retire without the 
yard, and leave the man whom they sought. 

The captain still harboring rancor in his breast, thought to 
compel us to give up the man by force of starvation, and kept 
the markets closed against us, and compelled us to subsist 
solely on our scant allowance ; but we, to retaliate, forbid all 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 



81 



prisoners going out of the yard to work, who at this time were 
about forty or fifty carpenters, masons, and other mechanics, 
who were a great profit to the government ; this step put 
Shorlland to great expense and inconvenience to procure 

others. 

He at last concluded to make peace and restore tranquility, 
and let the man remain ; and, on the twentieth, he again 
opened the markets to the prisoners, and we permitted the 
workmen to go out and work again. The other three men 
remained in the cachot, but a stronger guard was plaeed 
there, otherwise we were determined to release them by force. 

On the twenty-second, arrived a draft of prisoners, lately 
acptured off the Cape of Good Hope, among whom were 
the crew of the late United States brig Syren ; the treatment of 
these men before they arrived at this place will be mentioned 
in the supplements to this work. These, together with others 
taken in other parts, arrived since the last enumeration on the 
last day of one thousand eight hundred and fourteen, made in all 
at this depot five thousand eight hundred and fifty, which were 
all the prisoners in England, except officers on parole. 
The prisoners were barefooted, and very sickly. 

On the twenty-sixth of this month, is gazetted in the London 
papers, the official account of the capture of the United States 
frigate President, Com. Decatur. 

The editor says she was captured solely by the Endymion, 
of far inferior force; he says the engagement was in the old 
English style, yard-arm to yard-arm. Knowing this to be 
a falsehood, I addressed a letter to the editor, requesting him 
to read a short piece of poetry which I enclosed. 

March commenced with cold and blustering weather, and 
the prison almost one continued scene of sick and dying, the 
small-pox was raging with a desolating aspect, and the greatest 
anxiety concerning the ratification of the treaty ; afflictions, 
which seem never to come singly, were now pressing upon 
the lack of one another ; pestilence, famine and nakedness 
were not affliction enough, phrensy must be added. 

On the fourth, a man in the hospital, in a sudden fit of in- 
sanity, seized a knife and stabbed two of the nurses very dan- 
gerously, of which wounds Jonathan Paul died on the tenth, 
the other survived. 

On inquiry into the ciroumstances of the deceased, we found 
him to have been a married man, and his wife had lived a little 



82 THE prisoner's memoirs, 

distance from the prison since his confinement, who was in 
very narrow circumstances. 

We all agreed to give her the day's allowance of fish of that 
week, which we sold to the contractor and received the money, 
which amounted to nearly one hundred dollars ; this sum she 
received, and returned to her residence on the day of the death 
of her husband. 

On this day, also, the three men who were put into close 
confinement for marking the traitors on' the face, were taken 
out of the custody oi the agent of prisoners of war at this place, 
by a writ o( habeas corpus ad respodendiun, and removed to the 
criminal prison at Exeter, to be tried for the offence by the 
civil laws of this country. They were removed in irons. The 
prisonesrs then made a contribution for the support of these 
men while at Exeter. 

On the tenth, we received London papers, which gave an 
account of Bonaparte's having arrived in France at the head 
of about one thousand men, and that he was making the most 
rapid advances toward Paris, and thousands joining him; 
that the greatest confusion w^ taking place in the affairs of 
France. 

This intelligence struck the greatest astonishment in all 
England, and created a very serious concern among all the 
military, who expected to be relieved on the arrival of the 
treaty ratified by the President, but now they must despair of 
that idea, as new wars must inevitably follow the steps of that 
gigantic monster. 

On the fourteenth, a universal joy was diffused through ihe 
whole prison, and "a srrtile lighted up in the aspect of woe;'' 
the Favorite, the welcome messenger of peace, arrived, and 
brought the treaty, ratified by the President of the United 
States. 

I cannot better express the joy that diffused itself through 
the whole country, Englishmen as well as prisoners, than by 
giving the following lines from a great author: 

" The dumb shall sinpf, the lame his crutch forego, 
And leap exulting like the bounding roe. 
No sigh nor murmur the wide world shall hear, 
From ev'ry face he wipes off ev'ry tear." 

We raised the ensigns and pendant on each prison ; pre- 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 83 

sented to Capt. Shortland, and gentlemen under his command, 
an address in poetry. 

On the seventeenth, we were informed by Capt. Shortland, 
that he had received orders from the Board of Transoort to 
discharge the prisoners whenever Mr. Beasley was ready to 
receive them. To the great disappointment of all the prison- 
we had received no information from Mr. Beasley for six 
weeks, and the prisoners now were in the greatest anxiety. 
They reasonably expected that on the arrival of this ratified 
treaty, Mr. Beasley would have everything in a state of readi- 
ness for their immediate conveyance lo the United Staler;, and 
that he would inform them in what manner they were to pro- 
ceed there ; but not a syllable was received from the agent of 
our country till the eighteenth, when a very cold and unpleas- 
ant letter was received from him, which read as follows: 

'' Fellow-citizens, — 

'* I am informed that great numbers of the prisoners refuse 
being inoculated with the small-pox, which 1 hear has been 
very mortal among you, I therefore acquaint you that it will 
be impossible for me to send home any prisoners unless they 
have gone through the same. Yours, &c., 

"R. G. BEASLEY." 

This strange letter rather increased the great anxiety every 
man was in, for we expected to have been informed something 
relative to our speedy departure, and that he had made ar- 
rangements to clothe the oldest prisoners, who were so naked 
that they were unfit to be discharged. 

On the ninteenth, an order arrived, informing Capt. Short- 
land to discharge thirty men, as they had been applied for by 
American captains, to man ships in France and up the east 
country; the Transport Board had ordered them to be dis- 
charged. 

On the twentieth, Capt. Shortland released those three 
men whom we have mentioned were committed to close con- 
finement in the cachot last August, on suspicion of blowing up 
the vessel ; the other, we have mentioned, made his escape. 

These men made as ghastly an appearance as it is possible 
for human beings to make; they had been eight months con« 
fined within a damp stone room, twenty feet square, floored 



84 THE prisoners' memoirs, 

with slone, and no light except a dim ray that gleamed 
through the top of the gable end. They had lived on two- 
thirds of a" scant allowance till their trembling limbs could 
scarce support their body. 

On the same day, a writ came to remove the insane man 
who had occasioned the death of Jonathan Paul to Exeter, to 
have his trial ; also one to bring forward about twenty per- 
sons as witnesses, in this and the trial of the three men whom 
we mentioned had been taken there for trial for marking the 
traitors. 

The small-pox raged now in a most alarming manner; it 
being: of the African kind, scarce a man recovered after once 
being attacked and conveyed to the hospital. 

After the arrival of the ratification of the treaty, great num- 
bers visited the prison, from all parts of the countrj^ with al- 
most every kind of article for sale in the markets, among whom 
were great numbers of Jews, who came here to sell old 
clothes. 

One of these Jew merchants, on his way to the prison, met 
a farmer who lived about eight miles from the prison, and ac- 
cused him of being an American prisoner, making his escape 
from the depot, as great numbers had lately made their escape ; 
and, thinking to receive the reward, which was three pounds, 
given by the government for apprehending any prisoner mak- 
ing his escape from the prison, told the farmer he must go 
back to the prison with him; and the farmer, having been 
once a sailor, was willing to confirm him in his suspicions, 
and began the song of Yankee Doodle; this confirmed the 
Jew in his belief of his being an American, and he was sure 
he had got a prize worth three pounds to him ; but his pris- 
oner refused to walk, and thinking he could afford to hire a 
conveyance for him, gave half a guinea to a wagoner to take 
him to the prison, and treated him very liberally along the 
way with drink. About 11 o'clock the Jew arrived with his 
prisoner, and applied to the keepers to take charge of him, 
and pay the reward of three pounds; but to his astonishment, 
the clerks, turnkeys, and every officer, immediately knew the 
farmer, and knew him to be a respectable man residing on the 
edge of the moor. He now demanded of the Jew a compen- 
sation for being detained several hours a prisoner, and the de- 
mand being justified by Capt. Shortland, the Jew was obliged 
to pay five pounds to prevent a suit. 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 85 



The affair was made known to the prisoners, and every 
man forbid purchasing anything of the Jew; he was therefore 
obliged to leave the market without disposing of a single 
article. 

On the twenty-fourth, a letter was recieved from Mr. Beas- 
ley, informing those Americans who had been taken under 
the French flag, and had been considered French prisoners 
till they were discharged, and from that time till this, had been 
recognised by no government, that he was now authorized to 
acknowledge them as Americans, and sent to each man a suit 
of clothes. This was the first assistance these men had had 
from any government since the French prisoners were dis- 
charged, and had lived entirely on the charity of the other 
prisoners. They had been prisoners four or five years. 

The same letter informed us that he had taken three ships 
at London for the conveyance of the prisoners to the United 

States. 

The same day a passport for four prisoners, who were to 
be discharged, was received. 

During this month many prisoners made their escape, the 
government appearing very careless ; and it was supposed this 
negligence was intentional, that they might escape for the 
purpose of impressing, as the press was hot about this time; 
but some few were detected when passing the wall, and sen- 
tenced to the cachot for ten days, on two-thirds allowance, 
which stopped the escaping for that time. 

On the twenty-fifth the prisoners began to be impatient of 
such delay in the American agent, as eleven days had elapsed 
since the arrival of the ratified treaty, and nothing in readiness 
to discharge them, no means provided, and such delay too much 
to be borne ; their situation was such that they could not re- 
strain their resentment against such criminal neglect as their 
agent was guilty of ; they were determined to punish him as much 
as it lay in their power; they therefore caused his effigy to be 
hanged on the top of one of the prisons, after which it was tak- 
en down, and burnt in presence of all the officers and soldiers — 
But I must not forget to mention the sentence of the court, pro- 
nounced before his execution, and his dying confession, when 

under the gallows. 

Sentence. 
At this trial, held at Dartmoor on the twenty-fifth day of 
March, one thousand eight hundred and fifteen, you, Reuben 

8 



86 THE prisoners' memoirs 



G. Beasley in effigy; are found guilty, by an impartial and 
judicious jury of your countrymen, upon the testimony of five 
thousand seven hundred witnesses, of depriving many hun- 
dreds of your countrymen of their lives, by the most wanton 
and most 'cruel deaths, by nakedness, starvation, and exposure 
to pestilence. It therefore becomes the duty of this court, as 
ouo-ht to be the duty of every court of justice, to pronounce that 
sentence of the law, which your manifold and henious crimes 
so richly deserve. — And it is with the deepest regret that I 
am compelled to say, our country has been imposed upon, by 
a man whose crimes must cut him off from among the living. 
You this day must be hanged by the neck on the top of the 
prison No. 7, until you are dead ; your body is then to be 
taken down and fastened to a stake, and burned to ashes, 
which are to be distributed to the winds, that your name may 
be forgotten, and your crimes no longer disgrace our nation. 

On hearing the* above sentence, the compunction of his con- 
science now brought forth the following confession: 

CONFESSION. 

" Injured countrymen and fellow-citizens : 

" I this day, by the verdict of a just and impartial jury, 
and by the sentence of an impartial court, am to be made a 
public example, and receive that punishment which is so 
justly due to my many odious offences against the laws of 
God and my country; and being in a very few moments to 
make my exit from this world, do confess, \p, the presence of 
Almighty God, that for the first twelve months of my consul- 
ship f did most criminally neplect the American prisoners, 
who were dying daily for the want of my assistance, which 1 
withheld through mercenary motives: the cries and petitions 
of my unfortunate countrymen I have always treated with the 
utmost disregard and contempt, but being fully convinced of 
all my past errors, I make this public and candid confession, 
in hopes that I may find mercy in the presence of a just and 
merciful God. I further do acknowledge, that I have been 
the means of detaining you in your present situation by ne- 
glecting to send you home, as I might have done, while the 
exchano-e was open for prisoners, which was not closed till 
June, eighteen hundred and thirteen; I likewise confess, that 
1 have deprived great numbers of you of your regular turns 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 87 



of exchange, by filling- the cartels with paroled officers, who 
were not entitled to the same ; I must confess that had I have 
made proper application to the British government, and 
had I used my influence, I might have obtained the release of 
all the men discharged from his majesty's ships of war; but 
being selfish, and swayed by despicable motives, I made no 
exertions for their relief. I do likewise confess, that after the 
second year of my consulship, 1 could no longer withhold 
from my unfortunate countrymen, some little assistance in 
money and clothing, as the United States had given me posi- 
tive orders to supply all the wants of her citizens, who were 
prisoners of war at that lime in England; but tQ my shame, 
and to the disgrace of any American agent, I entered in a 
contract with a Jeio merchant of London, to supply the priso- 
ners with the very meanest and coarsest clothing that could 
possibly be procured in all England. At the same time I 
made advances to you, prisoners, of two and a half cents per 
day, and then represented to your country, the Congress of the 
United States, that I had supplied all your wants by providing 
you a sufficient quantity of clothing, and making you a daily 
advance of money suitable to your wants ; for I did think that 
by deceiving the United Stales, and depriving you of the ne- 
cessaries of life, I should in a very few years accumulate to 
myself a very handsome fortune; but to my great disappoint- 
ment and disgrace, the peace took place, and all my villany 
and decepiion was discovered; my crimes stood in open day. 
For these crimes now I am justly doomed to this ignominious 
death, and must very shortly make my appearanee before the 
just and Almighty God, to answer for al! my ciimes; where 
I expect there will rise up in evidence against me, the souls 
of hundreds of my departed countrymen, who now lie buried 
behind the walls of this prison by my crimes ; as the time is 
now expired, I must depart to the uncertainty of an here- 
after." The hat drops. " 1 depart among the damned." 

After the ashes was scattered in the winds, the following 
dirge was then sung: 

The image of disgrace we've hang'd, 

And wish it was quite true 

That Beasley had himself been there, 

And the devil burnt his Jew : 

For both coutriv'd to wrong us much ; 

And they know it very well, 

They'll always have the prisoners' prayer 

To send them both to hell. 



88 THE prisoners' memoirs, 

On the twenty-sixth, the prisoners who had been taken to 
Exeter to give evidence against the insane man who stabbed 
Paul, and also those who were to give evidence against the 
three men who were accused of marking the traitors, returned 
to Dartmoor; as did also the defendants who had had their 
trial, and were acquitted. 

On the twenty-eighth, we leceived our monthly pay as 
usual: the prison continued very sickly, and no preparation 
for our departure. 

At this time the officers and soldiers of the garrison seemed 
greatly alarmed and much concerned at the news received 
from France. They had the greatest apprehensions of an im- 
mediate war with Bonaparte, as the Paris papers gave an ac- 
count of his being at the head of three hundred thousand men 
in arms; and the British papers mentioned the great prepar- 
ations they were making in this country to assist the allies. 
The very name of the Emperor, and the mention of the bat- 
tle of New-Orleans, made every British officer and soldier 
furn pale, and shudder at the thought. 

On the last day of March, I collected the exact number of 
all prisoners at this depot, and noted as follows: 

In prison No. 1 -.- 1769 

In do. No. 3 972 

In do. No. 4 1051 

In do. No. 5 958 

In do. No. 7 - 1263 

In different employments about the stores - - 51 

Employed in the hospital 19 

Patients in the hospital - 130 

Total at Dartmoor 5693 

The following are the different descriptions of prisoners, 
and the number of each class. 

There were of those discharged from British ships of war, 
and also those taken in England, ,-..-- 2200 

Colored people : 1000 

United States' soldiers and sailors - . - - - 250 
Taken on board of privateers and merchant-ships, 2243 
Including those few mentioned, taken under the French 
flag. 

On the same day we received letters from London, inform- 
ing us that the ships taken for our 3onveyance, lay wind 
bound in the Downs. 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 89 



Themonlh concluded with pleasant weather for Dartmoor; 
sickness and small pox had somewhat abated. 

The prisoners made a contribution for the assistance of a 
prisoner, who had lost an arm in attempting to take posses- 
sion of the cartel, which was conveying them from Halifax 
to England. 

As this is intended to be a true and faithful account of all 
the occurrences and circumstances of the American captives 
in England, we cannot forbear mentioning some circum- 
stances, which may appear trifling and uninteresting to those 
who have not felt as we have. 

The weather now being mild, and the pleasant season for 
crossing the Atlantic fast approaching, the prisoners felt the 
most insufferable anxiety for their departure. The winds 
being favorable, and seventeen days having elapsed since the 
ratified treaty arrived, they could not but wait with impatience 
for the cartels. 

On the first of March. Capt. Shortland received .orders to 
discharge twenty-one prisoners, who had applied to be re- 
leased in England, Previous to this time almost all the men 
who had been delivered from the British ships of war, had 
been paid at different times their prize money, and the wages 
due for their past services in the navy. 

This day a man by the nameof Bratt, who had belonged to 
the United States' brig Argus returned to prison. 7'his man, 
at the time we were attempting lo make our escape by diggino- 
out, was accused of dro[)ping some unguarded expression, 
which had led to n discovery of our first attempt; he was 
threatened to be put to death, by great numbers of prisoners, 
and the keepers fearing this might be the case, took him to 
the guard house, where he remained till the crew of the 
Argus were discharged from prison, when he was also dis- 
charged with them, and went along with the crew to Dart- 
mouth, and entered the cartel; he was there accused of the 
same as before, and threatened, and fearing his life might be 
taken, he-(>scaped from the cartel, went into the countiy and 
worked at liis trade, which was that of a blacksmith, and had 
resided there the whole time. 

On the second we had information that the ship JVHlo, of 
Boston, had arrived in England in eightet-n days from that 
port; she was the first American vessel which had reached 
this place since the peace. 

8* 



90 THE prisoners' MEMOIRS, 

On the same day, we received a letter from Mr. Beasley, 
which read as follows : 
" Fellow Citizens, 

" From the numberless letters I receive daily, I find that 
the prisoners entertain an idea of my releasing any prisoners 
that are enabled with a sufficiency to provide for themselves ; 
I therefore must give you fully my intention on that subject, 
which is, to grant passports only to such persons as have 
friends or connexions in this country, of responsibility. 

" I must also acquaint you that I am making every possible 
dispatch with the cartels for your conveyance to the United 
States, where you are much wanted, and the encouragement 
for seamen very great." 

This letter again revived the drooping spirits of the prison- 
ers, who for many days had been almost distracted with the 
tedium of suspense. We now felt that a few days would 
release us from this earthly hell, and like iEnas of old, pass 
by propitious gales from hell to heaven, and shortly repose 
on the Elysian fields, in the arms of the goddess of liberty. 

The prisoners that had kept shops in the prisons for retail- 
ing small articles, such as tobacco, thread, soap, cofTee, sugar, 
&c. now broke up, and every thing was in great confusion 
for want of these articles ; these shops were a great advan- 
tage to those who kept them, and a great accommodation to 
all the prisoners. There had been from sixty to eighty in 
each prison ; at these places all these small articles might 
easily be obtained, though at somewhat higher price than in 
the market. 

Our salary would not go far in purchasing these arttcles, 
which were very high at this time all over England; we 
could buy for a penny sterling, only one small chew of 
tobacco, which was selling at JPlymouth by the quantity at 
nine shillings and six pence per pound. 

We find mentioned in the paper of this day, the arrival ot 
the late U. States frigate President at Plymouth; ihey barely 
mention that she had arrived at that place, and that she was 
captured by the Endymion, but the circumstances of the 
capture they very prudently left out, as reflecting no honor 
on the captors. 

Capt. Shortland had two men committed to close confine- 
ment, who had been aceused of drawing money from the 
Dire tors of Greenwich Hospital, under assumed names. 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 91 

On the fourth, a circumstance occurred, which may lead to 
the recital of other circumstances, which many to whose 
hand this work may come, may be inclined to doubt the 
veracity of ; but I can appeal, not only to those who have 
certified this work, but to nearly six thousand of my fellow 
prisoners, who upon their solemn oath can attest to the truth 
of what is herein contained. 

During the whole of this day the prisoners remained 
without bread, and the captain of the prison gone to Ply- 
mouth : we were obliged to subsist on the four and a half 
ounces of beef, and the soup made of it ; we demanded of the 
contractor the reason of our not drawing oui usual allowance 
of bread ; he answered, that it could not be obtained till to- 
morrow ; we waited as patiently as our feelings would allow, 
till the expiration of thirty-six hours from the time we had 
received the last bread, when hunger became so pressing, 
that it drove us to a state of desperation, and we could no 
longer endure it, as the whole allowance was scarcely suffi- 
cient to sustain life. At dusk in the evening, we again 
demanded the reason of our not receiving our allowance of 
bread as usual, as the store-house we well knew contained 
a sufficiency of both hard and soft bread. The contractor's 
clerk informed us, that a quantity of damaged hard bread, 
which had been kept in reserve for times of extreme neces- 
sity, now remained on hand, and that unless we would accept 
of one pound of that in lieu of the pound and a half of soft 
bread allowed by the Transport Board, until all they had was 
expended, he should not serve us with any brtad, until Capt. 
Shortland returned from Plymouth. 

The prisoners then collected themselves into companies, to 
consider of this very extraordinary conduct in the contractor ; 
and after mature deliberation, they all concluded that it must 
be a design in the contractor to get rid of his damaged bread, 
before we went away, and had taken this opportunity, while 
the captain was absent, to compel us to receive it by starving 
us till we were willing; we therefore concluded rather to die 
by the sword, than the famine, and determined to remain no 
longer in this starving condition, for we had all this time 
lived solely on the four and a half ounces of beef. Thus 
desperate by starvation, we determined to force open the 
gates in front of the prison, disarm the soldiers, break open 
the store-house and supply ourselves; and provided the gar- 



92 THE prisoners' memoirs, 

rison should charge or fire upon us, to make a general 
attack, and take possession of the guard house and barracks, 
and stand the consequences let come what might. Accord- 
ingly at dark, the prisoners were ordered, as usual, inside the 
prisons to be locked up for the night, but instead of com- 
plying with orders, a signal previously agreed on was given, 
and passed like lightning through every prison, and every 
prisoner appeared instantly at the gate in one solid body ; on 
approaching the gates, and bursting open the first three, the 
soldiers and turnkeys stationed there, fled in the utmost con- 
fusion and consternation to the main body in the guard house. 
The alarm-bells rung and the drums in every direction 
around the orarrison beat to arms ; the women in the different 
houses connected to the depot, flew in confusion and terror m 
every direction from the depot; in a few moments the alarm 
had reached the neighboring villages for many miles, and 
the militia assembled in arms to assist the garrison, which 
was at this time twelve hundred. We stood arranged in front 
of the store-house ready to receive the attack of the soldiery, 
or receive oar usual allowance of bread ; in a few moments 
the soldiers arrived and advanced with charged bayonets 
within two yards of the prisoners. The soldiers were then 
brought to a stand by the threats of the prisoners who all 
declared, in the most determined tone, that if they attempted 
to fire or make a charge on them, they must abide by any 
consequences that would follow : we told them that we were 
confident that no such orders had been issued by the govern- 
ment of Great Britain ; we also told them, that unless the 
bread was served out immediately, that the store-house should 
be levelled with the ground, and every prisoner should 
march out of the prison. The contractor, clerks, &c. then 
immediately came forward and entered into this engagement, 
that if the prisoners would retire into the prison yards, that 
the bread should be immediately served to them ; the prison- 
ers aofreed and retired, and for the securing the fulfilment of 
the engagement, they took with them as a hostage one of the 
clerks inside of the prison, and there to remain till every 
prisoner had received his "usual allowance of bread, which 
was not till after twelve o'clock at night. During this time, 
the guards, soldiers, keepers, and every person connected 
with the prison, remained in the greatest apprehension, 
fearing the prisoners had some further intention than merely 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 93 

to obtain their bread ; they feared their troubles would end in 
a more serious way, and the prisoners all make their escape, 
But next morning showed that the prisoners had no intention 
of escaping, for during the confusion of the night, many of 
them had taken the opportunity to scale the walls in an oppo- 
site direction, while the attention of the guard was taken up 
with the main body of them. 

Those that had gone out after remaining all night, came and 
demanded admittance into prison again This movement in 
the prisoners astonished the natives of the moor, who left va- 
cant their huts and fled for safety; and the women and child- 
ren had retired to the nearest towns, and there took refuge, 
and the men had joined the garrison for protection. 

During the night an express v/as sent to Plymouth to ac- 
quaint Capt. Shortland of the event, and that the prisoners had 
complete possession of the whole garrison, and the control of 
all things at Dartmoor. In the morning Capt. Shortland ar- 
rived with a reinforcement of two hundred soldiers ; but found 
all things quiet and tranquil ; as the prisoners had obtained 
their usual allowance of bread, they were satisfied and sought 
nothing more. Capt. Shortland made an apology for the con- 
duct of the contractor, and things passed on tolerably well ; 
but great suspicions remained among the people who had for- 
merly attended the market, and these had spread abroad and 
become the general opinion outside the walls, that the Ameri- 
can prisoners being detained so long since the ratification had 
arrived, now three weeks, in which time Mr. Beasley might 
have had all discharged and on their passage to the United 
States, had grown impati-'nt ; and as no ships had yet sailed 
from London to receive them, their forbearance was quite ex- 
hausted, and from some threats that had been thrown out by 
some of the prisoners in presence of the market people, that if 
the agent of their country did not procure their release within 
one month from the arrival of the treaty, that they would take 
their liberty in a body, being determined to risk their lives at 
all hazards, and depend on their own exertions for their liber- 
ty among armed soldiers, rather than remain in the wretched 
condition they were then in. These suspicions had gone so 
much abroad, that every body about the prison was apprehen- 
sive the prisoners would make the attempt to escape in a body, 
and some unhappy issue grow out of it. But the prisoners 
generally had no design of escaping, as by that means they 



94 THE prisoner's memoirs, 

would lose their opportunity of returning home in the cartels. 
On the sixth, we addressed a letter to Mr. Beasley, on the 
subject of our discharge, and informed him that we had made 
application to the British Gov^ernment to interfere in forward- 
ing our release, as he, Mr. Beasley, had delayed the time al- 
ready nearly one month, and had only procured three ships, 
and ihem slill in London, when at the same time ships could 
have been procured at Plymouth, on equally as good terms as 
at London, which would, with very little exertion on the part 
of iMr. Beasley, have released the greater part of the prisoners 
in two weeks from tiie arrival of the ratification of the treaty. 

The story I am about to relate is of the deepest concern, as 
well to every citizen of the United States as to those who were 
the immediate subjects of it. The event concerns the interest 
of both governments, and deserve to be treated in the most 
candid and impartial manner ; every transaction whereby the 
intention of those acting in it can be discovered, require to be 
shown in the purest and most open view. 

That the public may have all that can be known on this 
important subject, I purpose to lay before them, in the first in- 
stance, what passed within my own knowledge, that I myself 
was witness to ; then to give them the report of the committee 
appointed by the prisoners to investigate the circumstances of 
the massacre ; and lastly, to give the report of the agents ap- 
pointed by the two governments. 

What one of that Nation, or what soldier of that hardened, 
wretched band, can refrain from tears even while he relates the 
murderous deeds? 



" What blind, detested madness could afford, 
Such horrid license to the murd'ring sword !" 

Though the scene is of painful memory, and my soul shud" 
ders at the remembrance, and hath shrunk back with grief at 
the thought, yet will I relate what my eyes hath seen and my 
ears heard. 

On the sixth of this month, April, about six o'clock in the 
evening, Capt. Shortland discovered a hole in the inner wall, 
that separates the barrack- yard from prison No. 6 and 7 ; this 
hole had been made in the afternoon by some prisoners out of 
mere play, without any design to escape. 

On discovering the hole, Capt. Shortland seemed instantly 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 95 



to conceive the murderous design ; for, without giving the 
prisoners any notice to retire, he planted soldiers in proper 
positions on the top of the wall, where they could best assist 
in perpetrating his murderous and barbarous deeds. 

A few minutes past six, while the prisoners were innocent- 
ly* and unapprehensive of danger, walking in the prison yards 
and those in No. 1, 3 and 4 were particularly so, as the yards 
of these prisons are entirely separated every way from the 
yard in which the hole in the wall had been made — the alarm 
bells rung, and the drums of the garrison in every direction 
beat to arms ; this was about ten minute§ past six. 

This sudden and unexpected alarm excited the attention of 
all the prisoners, who, out of curiosity made immediately for 
the prison yard to inquire the reason of the alarm. 

Among so many as were in this depot, it is reasonable to 
suppose that some mischievous persons were among them, 
aud among those collected at the gate were some such persons 
who forced the gate open, whether by accident or design I 
will not attempt to say ; but without any intention of making an 
escape, and totally unknown to every man, except the few who 
stood in front of the gates; those back naturally crowded for- 
ward to see what was going on at the gates ; this pressed and 
forced a number through the gates, quite contrary to the in- 
tention of either those in front or those in rear. 

While in this situation Capt. Shortland entered the inner 
square, at the head of the whole body of soldiers in the garri- 
son ; as soon as they entered, Capt. Shortland took sole 
command of the whole, and immediately drew up the soldiers 
in a position to charge. 

The soldier-ofHcers, perceiving by this move the horrid and 
murderous design of Capt. Shortland, resigned their authority 
over the soldiers, and refused to take any part, or give any 
orders for the troop to fire. 

They saw by this time that the terrified prisoners were re- 
tiring as fast as so great a crowd would permit, and hurrying 
and flying in terrible flight, in every direction, to their re- 
spective prisons. 

The troop had now advanced within three yards of the 
prisoners, when Capt. Shortland gave them orders to chaige 
upon them ; at this time the prisoners had all got within their 
respective prison yards, and were flying with the greatest pre- 
cipitation from the point of the bayonet ; the doors now being 



96 THE PRISONER S MEMOIRS, 

full of the terrified crowd, they could not enter as fast as ihey 
wished; at this moment of dismay, Capt. Shortland was dis- 
tinctly heard to give orders to the troops to fire upon the pris- 
oners, although now completely in his power, and their lives 
at his disposal, and had offered no violence, nor attempted to 
resist, and thi gates all closed. 

The order was immediately obeyed by his soldiers, and they 
discharged a full volley of musketry into the main body ofthe 
prisoners, on the other side of the iron railings which separat- 
ed the prisoners from the soldiers. 

These volleys were repeated for several rounds, and the 
prisoners falling, either dead or wounded, in all directions, 
while it was yet impossible for them to enter the prison, on 
account of the numbers that flew there for refuge from the rage 
ofthe blood thirsty murderer. 

In the midst of this horrid slaughter, one man among the 
rear prisoners, with great presence of mind and the most un- 
daunted courage, turned and advanced to the soldiers, amidst 
the fire of hundreds, and while his fellow-prisoners were fall- 
ing all around him, and in an humble and suppliant manner, 
with his hat in his hand, this resolute soul, in the face of 
danger and death, implored mercy of Capt. Shortland to spare 
his countrymen. *'0 ! spare my countrymen !" he cried, " O ! 
Captain, forbear, don't kill us all." To this supplication, this 
cruel, inexorable Shortland replied, "Retire, you dammed ras- 
cal; I'll hear to nothing." The soldiers then pricked him 
with their bayonets, which compelled him to retreat to the prison 
door, where he must wait his doom with the other unfortu- 
nate prisoners, till the soldiers, who had now entered the dif- 
ferent prison yards, and were pursuing and firing should dis- 
patch him with the rest 

To do justice to the merits of this young man, T must inform 
the public that his name is Greenlow, of Virginia, and late a 
midshipman in the United States navy, but now a prisoner of 
the crew ofthe privateer Prince of Neufchattel. 

The soldiers now advanced, making a general massacre of 
men and boys, whom accident or impossibil'ty had left with- 
out the doors ofthe prison ; they advanced near to the crowded 
doors, and instantly discharged another volley of musketry on 
the backs of those farthest out, endeavoring to force their pas- 
sage into the prison. 

This barbarous act was repeated in the presence of this in- 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 97 . 

human monster, Shortland — and the prisoners fell, either dead 
or severely wounded, in all directions, before his savage sight. 
Bat his vengeance was not glutted by the cruel murder of 
the innocent men and boys that lay weltering and bleeding in 
the groans and agonies of death along the prison-doors, but 
turned and traversed the yard, and hunted a poor affrighted 
wretch, that had flew for safety close under the walls of prison 
No. 1, and dared not move lest he should be discovered, and 
immediat-i death be his lot. 

But, alas! the unhappy man was discovered by these hell- 
hounds, with this demon at their head, and with cool and de- 
liberate malice, drew up their muskets to their shoulders and 
despatched the unhappy victim, while in the act of imploring 
mercy from their hands. His only crime was not being able 
to get into the prison without being shot before. 

in the yard of No. 7, they found in their hunt another 
hapless victim, crouching close along the wall at the far end 
of the yard, and fearing to breathe, lest he should share the 
fate of his unfortunate countrymen that had already fallen a 
sacrifice to the rage of this lawless banditti ; when, ! cruel 
to relate, five of them drew up the instruments of death, and by 
the order of this fell murderer, discharged their contents into 
the body of this innocent man, while begging them to spare 
his life ! 

This Nero, now having accomplished his murderous de- 
signs, retired with his troops from the yard, and left it a hor- 
rid scene of his relentless rage ! 

The dead and the wounded lay scattered about the yard ; 
seven were killed dead on the spot, and six with the loss of a 
leg or an arm, and dangerously wounded ; several were pro- 
nounced mortal. The names of (very man, either killed or 
wounded will be given in the catalogue annexed. 

As it was much feared the murderers would endeavor to 
conceal many of the dead, Dr. McGrath, head surgeon of the 
Hospital, an honest skillful man, entered immediately after 
Shortland retired, and exerted his utmost ability in collecting 
the dead and wounded from the'several prison yards, and con- 
veying them to the Hospital. 

At the same time he sent to the neighboring towms to call 
in the aid of medical gentlemen that resided there ; he also de- 
manded admittance into the prisons, which were now closed, 



98 THE prisoners' MEMOIRS, 



to receive the dead and wounded that had reached the inside 

of the prison. 

A despatch was immediately sent to Plymouth, to infoim the 
Admiral and Commodore, and the Commander in Cliief of the 
Military Department, of the fatal sixth of April, one, thousand 
eight hundred and fifteen; which day must be of horrid 
memory to every American, whose mind will revolt with in- 
dignity at the name of SHORTLAND AND THE MASSA- 
CRE AT DARTMOOR ! ! 

Shortland ! thou foul monster and inhuman villain ! is ^thy 
soul glutted with the blood of the innocent victims, that Fate 
had doomed to thy revengeful and blood-thirsty power ? I ap- 
peal to the world to say whether the conduct of Warren Has- 
tings, whether the massacre of St. Domingo, can exceed the 
horrid catastrophe of this ill-fated night, conducted under the 
immediate inspection of your murderous eye? and should the 
laws of your country not doom you to a death of the most se- 
vere nature as a public example for your well known crimes? 
Your whole nation is involved as a black accomplice in your 
monstrous guilt ; and the blood of my unfortunate countrymen, 
shed by your base hand, must ever remam a stain to the char- 
acter of your nation. 

Tell me, ye bloody butchers ! and thou who contrived, as 
well as ye who executed the execrable design ,hovv dare ye 
breathe that air, which wafted to the ear of Majesty the groans 
of the wounded and the dying ? How dare ye tread that earth 
which is wet with the blood of the innocent, shed by your ac- 
cursed hands? Do not the goads and stings of conscious guilt 
wound you in your daily walks? Do not the ghosts of the 
murdered rise before you in your nightly dreams? 

On the morning of the seventh, by order of the commander- 
m-chief at Plymouth, a Colonel, with a reinforcement of 
troops, arrived and took command of the depot. Immediately 
on his arrival, he sent notice to the prisoners of his taking the 
command, and that Capt. Shortland wished the prisoners to 
appoint some few men to receive the explanation of his last 
night's conduct; but we unanimously agreed, and despatched 
a letter to the Colonel, acquainting him that as citizens of the 
United States of America, we should conceive it a disgrace to 
the national character of our country to hold any communica- 
tion with the murderer of our fellow-citizens. But provided 
the Colonel should require any conference with the prisoners, 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 99 

they should at any time with pleasure attend, and explain the 
nature of every past event 

The Colonel, requesting a conference, came to the gate at- 
tended by the guilty Shortland, who could not now disguise 
the guilt of his crime ; he could not look a prisoner in the face ; 
as he walked along towards the prison bars with his eyes fix- 
ed on the ground, and as he came to the spot where, a few 
hours before, lay one of our murdered countrymen, he saw the 
blood, and faintly attempted to speak ; but the monitor of Hea- 
ven was not quite overcome by the powers of Hell, and he 
could not utter a word. After several efforts he hesitatingly 
attempted to justify his conduct by saying it was a part of his 
duty, which was grounded on the fear he had of the prisoners 
making an attempt to escape, and imputed part of the fault to 
Mr. Beasley, in driving the prisoners to a state of desperation 
by his great delay of sending them home. 

The Colonel very patiently heard the stories of both parties, 
and promised a jury of inquest should be held over the bodies 
of our departed countrymen the next day, and a strict investi- 
gation of every circumstance of the event had, according to 
evidence. 

At nine o'clock we hoisted the colors half-mast on every 
prison ; we then visited the Hospital, but the spectacle was 
painful indeed, and enough to freeze the blood of the most 
hardened parricide ; the tables were covered with the amputa- 
ted legs and arms of our fellow-prisoners, and our ears stunned 
with the groans of forty-two, wounded in the most shocking" 
manner ; and seven lay dead as solemn witnesses of the horrid 
act. 

We then returned to the prisons and appointed a committee 
often to take depositions of a great number of persons who 
were best acquainted with the particular facts. The commit- 
tee being severally sworn, proceeded to make all possible in- 
quiry into the circumstances of the massacre, and prepare every 
testimony to lay before the jury which were to sit over the 
bodies the next day. 

At two in the afternoon arrived an Admiral and another 
officer of high rank in his Majesty's navy, and after intro- 
ducing themselves to the prisoners, in a very friendly and 
feeling manner, expressed their extreme regret for the horrid 
and barbarous act of Capt. Shortland, and informed us that 
they had come clothed with proper authority to make inquiry 



100 *■ THE prisoner's MEMOIRS, 



into the conduct of Capt. Shorlland in the late unhappy event 
' and his conduct during his agency at the prison. They as- 
sured us, that he would be called to an account by the govern- 
ment, and that a fair investigation should be had of all his con- 
duct. 

I have omitted to mention a circumstance which occurred 
during the dreadful scene of the night. A lamp-lighter, who 
was in the act of lighting the lamp at the door of prison No. 
3, in which I myself resided, being compelled to take refuge 
among the prisoners, was forced by the hurrying group into 
the prison. He belonged to the same regiment of soldiers 
who v/ere that moment committing these most horrid outrages. 
He was immediately seized by the prisoners, and conveyed to 
a particular part of the prison, and the prisoners being in the 
most enraged state, it was immediately proposed to put him 
to death, and sacrifice him to our resentment, as a just retalia- 
tion of our injury ; but on cool deliberation and debate through- 
out the prison, it was thought better to spare him; and to the 
pleasing astonishment of this man, half dead with fear, he was 
told to rest easy, for his; life should not betaken, but he should 
be preserved, that the whole world might distinguish the dif- 
ference of humanity between unprovoked British soldiers, 
and the injured and provoked American seamen ; accordingly, 
when the doors were opened to take out the wounded, the man 
was released, which astonished and confounded the whole 
soldiery, who felt the force of the reproach wiih the keenest 
remorse, and were compelled to express the highest respect 
for this sfenerous revenge. 

The following is a correct list of killed and wounded on the 6th 
of April, 1815. and contains a true statement of their con- 
dition at 12 o'^clock on the 8th day of the same month. 

Killed. 

John Haywood, black, Virginia, discharged ; the ball entered 
a little posterior to the acromion of ihe left shoulder, and 
passed obliquely upwards; made about the middle of the 
right side its egress of the neck. 

Thomas Jackson, N. Y. Orbit of N. Y., the ball entered the 
left side of the belly nenrly in a line with the navel, and 
made its egress a little below the false ribs in the opposite 
side; a large portion of the intestinal canal protruded 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. IQl 



through the wound made by the ingress of the ball. He 
languished until 3 o'clock of the 7th, when he died. 
John Washington, Maryland, Rolla privateer; the ball en- 
tered at the squamore process of the left temporal bone, and 
passing through the head, made its exit a little below the 
cruceal ridge of the occipital bone. 
James Mann, Boston, Giro; the ball entered at the inferior 
angle of the left scapula, and lodged under the integument 
of the right pectoral muscle. In its course, it passed 
through the inferior margin of the right and left lobesofthe 
lungs. 
Joseph Toker Johnson, not known ; the ball entered at the 
inferior angle of the left scapula, penetrated the heart, and 
passing through both lobes of the lungs, made its egress 
at the right axilla. 
William Leverage, N. Y., Saratoga; the ball entered about 
the middle of the left arm, through which it passed, and 
penetrating the corresponding side, betwixt the second and 
third ribs, passing through the left lobe of the lungs, the 
mediartenum, and over the right lobe, lodged betwixt the 
fifth and sixth ribs. 
James Campbell, N. Y., discharged ; the ball entered at the 
outer angle of the right eye, and in its course fractured 
and depressed the greater part of the frontal bone, fractured 
the nasal bones, and made its egress above the orbital 
ridge of the left eye. He languished until the morning 
of the 8th, when he died. 

Dangerousey Wounded, and Limbs Amputated imme- 
diately ON THE night OF THE SIXTH. 

John Gray, Virginia, prize to the Paul Jones, left arm. 

James Wills, Marblehead, Paul Jones, left arm. 

James Trumbull, Portland, Maine, Elbridge Gerry, left arm. 

Robbert Willett, Portland, Maine, left thigh. 

Thomas Smith, New- York, Panl Jones, left thigh. 

John Gier, Boston, Rambler, left thigh, 

Wm. Leversage, N. Y., Magdalen, right thumb. 

Dangerously Wounded, Limbs not Amputated 

on the eighth. 

Thomas Findley, Marblehead, Enterprise, wounded in the 

thigh and back. 

Ephraim Linson. 

9* 



102 THE prisoners' MEMOIRS, 



John tlogerberlh, Philadelphia, Good Friends, of do., thigh 

and hip. 
William Blake, Kennebeck, discharged, M. W., three wounds 

in the body. 
Peter Wilson, New-York, Virginia Planter, in the hand. 
James Israel, do., do., thigh. 
Jacob Davis, do., do., thigh. 

Caleb Cotton, Taunton, Mass., M. W., two places in the body. 
John Roberts, do., do , thigh. 

Joseph Phipps, Old Concord, Zebra, thigh and belly. 
William Lamb, do , do., eyes. 

Edward Gardner, Marblehead, impressed, in the wrist. 
William Appleby, New-York, Magdelen, arm, 
James Bell, Philadelphia, Joel Barlow, wrist and thigh. 
Philip Ford, Philadelphia, impressed, five wounds, side, 

breast, back and thigh. 
James Birch, thigh. 
Henry Montcalm, Roxbury, Mass.. Governor Tompkins, 

knee. 
Andrew Garrison, thigh and head. 
Robert Tadley, Bath, Maine, Grand Turk, privates. 
William Penn, Virginia, impressed, thigh. 
Joseph Reugh, thig-h. 

Thaddeus Howard, Rochester, Mass., Hart of Bedford, leg. 
Edward Banker, Portsmouth, N. H., impressed, back. 
Thomas George, Norfolk, Virginia, U. S. Rattlesnake, thigh. 
Alexander Wilson, Providence, R. I , Leo, hand and leg. 
John Surrey, N. Y., French privateer, cheek. 
Nathaniel Wakeneld, Beverly, Mass., Giro, right knee. 
Samuel E Tyler, Boston, Tom, thigh and arm. 
Joseph Reaver, Salem, Mass.. legs and thighs. 
Stephen S. Vincent, New-Jersey, head and ears. 
James Christie, Tickler, different places. 
William Smith, New- York. 
Robert Willet, Portland, man of war, knee. 

Slightly Wounded/- 

Ephraim Lincoln, Boston, Argus, by the bayonet. 
Greenlow, Virginia, different places. 
James Newman, Baltimore, impressed, by the bayonet. 
Alexander Peterson, New- York, Erin, Boston, by the bayonet. 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 103 

Joseph Music, Charleston. S. C, impressed, by the bayonet. 

John Willet, Philndelj^hia, by the bayonet. 

Joseph Hindil, Philadelphia, Young Wasp, in the hand. 

Perry Richardson, Bath, Maine, Rolla, by the bayonet. 

John Cowen, Teezer, by the bayonet. 

James Barker, Wiscassel, Elbridge Gerry, by the bayonet. 

James Wedgewood, Portsmouth, N. H. Lark, in the head. 

James Matheas, Delaware, by the bayonet. 

Jo in Murray, New-York, by the bayonet. 

William Marshal, Lawrence, by the bayonet. 

Thomas Johnson, Albany, Criterion, by the bayonet. 

The list of killed and wounded contains all that could be 
ascertained at that time, but great suspicions remained among 
the prisoners that more had been killed than were certainly 
knpvvn, as some were missing, and not to be found among the 
livling or the dead ; it was supposed that these had been 
killed, and being mangled in a most shocking manner, were 
privately taken away by Capt. Shortland, and buried that night, 
before Doctor Magrath entered the yard, and a report pre- 
vailed that he had done it: as great nurnbers who were 
slightly wounded did not go to the hospital, I, to ascertain 
the exact number of killed and wounded, took the list of 
those in the. hospital, from the doctor's books, and every 
prison mustered all those that refused going to the hospital, 
by which means the list can be depended on as strictly 
correct. j» 

At twelve o'clock, at noon, on the eighth, a jury of inquest 
arrived, composed of twelve farmers, and a coroner, and sat 
over the bodies of our murdered countrymen ; they began to 
take the, depositions of the prisoners and turnkeys, and pro- 
ceeded on till seven in the evening, and adjourned till next 
morning. 

The evidence of the prisoners corresponded with the state- 
ment in a preceding page. 

On the m.orningof the ninth, the dead not yet beingburied, 
the jury sat over them again, and proceeded on with the evi- 
dence on both sides, which consisted of Dr Magrath, whose 
evidence was against Shortland, prisoners, turnkeys, soldier- 
ofFicers, soldiers, &-c. 

The summary of the evidence I shall give presently; but 
I must here digress a little to give some circumstacces that 
intervened betwixt the taking of the depositions, and the 
verdict of the jury. 



104 THE prisoners' MEMOIRS 



This morning an order arrived for the discharge of thirty- 
four prisoners, who had applied to he released to man ships 
in different parts of Europe. 

During the eighth and ninth, the prisoners made every 
inquiry in their power to learn whether any were missing, 
who were not included among the dend, wounded, or dis- 
charged ; but nothing satisfactory could be obtained, but only 
a report that after the prisons were closed, Capt. Shoriland 
had secretly buried some of the most mangled bodies, before 
Dr. Magrath entered, as he is a man of integrity, feeling, 
candor, firmness, and unshaken veracity, as well as genius 
and skill, that no favor or affection could swerve from the 
truth. Shortland would therefore endeavor to conceal as 
much as possible from him, as whatever came within his 
knowledge, came out without fear or reward, and was much 
against the conduct of Capt. Shortland. On the morning of 
the seventh, as before mentioned, we ascertained by the tes 
timony of those persons whose names are mentioned in the 
certificate to this work, the particulars of the killed and 
wounded, whose names have been already mentioned, the 
number of which and their situation, were as follows: 

Seven were killed dead in the yards, and in the prisons. 
Six suffered amputation of a leg or an arm. Thirty-eight 
dangerously wounded and many supposed to be mortal by the 
surgeon of the depot. Twelve slightly wounded. The total 
amount of killed and wounded sixty-three^ Among these 
were many mangled in the most horrid manner, having 
received five, six, and seven wounds apiece from the bayonet. 
Hundreds of the prisoners very narrowly escaped, having 
received several shots through the hats and clothes. 

We have just discovered that the soldiers here at present 
are the Somersetshire militia; and the garrison consists of 
fifteen hundred soldiers of different military classes. 

On the evening of the ninth, the inquest, consisting of 
twelve peasants, dependants of Capt. Shortland, delivered in 
this most extraordinary and unjust verdict, of Justifiable 
Homicide; such a verdict astonished every person, who was 
not particeps criminis. This verdict seems to have been 
given against evidence ; a summary of which on both sides I 
shall now proceed to give the reader, that he may judge for 
himself It appeared from the different witnesses before 
mentioned, that the hole made in the wall was unknown to 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 105 

more than three-fourths of the prisoners confined in the yard 
of No. 5 and 7, where the hole was made, and that no com- 
bination had ever been entered into by any of the prisoners 
to escape; it was also proved that the prisoners corfined in 
the yards of No. 1, 3 & 4, were totally ignorant of there being 
any hole in the wall. It was proved that the gates were broken 
open by a man in the state of intoxication, and unknown to 
the prisoners, and that when broken open it was in the 
power of the sentry to have taken the offender and confined 
him without any resistance of the prisoners. It was also 
proved that they came running to the gate out of curiosity, to 
leai'n the occasion of the alarm bells ringing ; that the few 
persons (who were not above fifty,) flocked into the square, 
were carried out of the gates by the numbers pressing in the 
rear to gratify their curiot-ity ; that no stones or clubs were 
thrown while they were in this situation ; that they all imme- 
diately retired into the yards of their respective prisons, and 
shut the gales after them ; that Capt. Shortland took the im- 
mediate command of the soldiers, and ordered them to fire on 
the prisoners; that on firing the prisoners made all possible 
exertion to gain the inside of the prison ; but some fell 
before they could reach it; that the soldiers pursued and 
fired into the prisons and killed two within the prison ; that 
the soldiers on the ramparts singled out the prisoners, and 
fired and killed them, as they were going into the prisons; 
that after all the prisoners had got in, except some few, 
being frightened, and not able to get into the prisons, 
ran for refuge close to the walls, and were fired upon 
singly, and either killed or wounded by several soldiers firing 
at one. That an officer of low rank assisted under the com- 
mand of Capt Shortland, in killing a boy, not over thirteen 
years old ! that a prisoner applied to Capt. Shortland to 
forbear, and stop the horrid massacre, as the prisoners were 
retiring as fast as possible, and that Capt. Shortland answered, 
„ retire, you damned rascal, I'll hear to nothing." It was 
proved that the turnkeys, contrary to the invariable custom, 
had been in and locked all the doors of each prison, except 
one; there being four doors to each prison, they had ever 
before been left open, till a horn was sounded, and the turn- 
keys cried "turn in, turn in;" but that night no horn was 
sounded, nor was there any cry to turn in, but the doors 
secretly locked, which much surprised the few that happened' 



106 THE prisoners' MEMOIRS, 

to see the doors locked, but did not suspect any mischief was 
about to be done; that this was done some time before the 
usual hour for turning in. Also, that Capt. Shortland actually 
took hold of a musket with his own hands in conjunction 
with a soldier, and fired the first gun. That the soldier- 
officers were unwilling to give any orders to the soldiers, or 
take any active part in the proceedings. 

From the summary of the evidence above given, on the 
part of the prisoners, it must appear evident to every impar- 
tial reader, that Capl Shortland made the aitack with malice 
prepense. But to give the public the fairest opportunity to 
judfje, I shall give a summary of the eridence on the part of 
Capt. Shortland, which came all from the mouth of witnesses 
particeps criminis, and acting with him. Those consisted of 
clerks, turnkeys, and soldiers, ^^ho had been the very instru- 
ments of the massacre. They deposed and said, that the 
prisoners were in a state of mutin^s and that great numbers 
had threatened to escape by forcing through the walls, and 
that the hole in the wall was big enough for a man to pass 
through; that the lock on the gate was broken by some pri- 
soner, and that stones were thrown while the prisoners were 
at the gate, and also clubs and pieces of iron thrown at the 
guards by the prisoners while there ; that great numbers had 
got into the square, and that they did mean to make their 
escape. Nothing material could be further drawn from these 
witnesses. 

In the evening of this da}^, the bodies of our murdered 
countrymen were buried behind the prison walls in the same 
manner as before the peace, without form or ceremony, and no 
prisoner permitted to attend to see the last sad office, which one 
friend can perform for another in giving the grave its due. O! 
Britannia, thy boast is gone, thy pride is lost; humanity is fled 
from thy degenerate sons, and a safer asylum in the bosom of 
the savasfe tribes is found. Deny the deiid their sacred due ! 

Thou ingrate race, is this the reward due to men who have 
labored many years thy fiithful servant, and now, after having 
dragged out a painful imprisonment for two years, and the 
moment the hope of returning had rekindled the sparks of life, 
must be massacred in a most barbarous manner, and denied the 
right of the grave ? 

I must here relate one instance which occurred a few years 
iicro, and which goes very far to show the inhumanity of those 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 107 

who have had the command of this depot heretofore. In a 
manuscript which was left here by the French prisoners, 
which I was this evening perusing, 1 find the following re- 
markable circumstance of cruelty related, which took place 
durino^ their confinement. 

Captain Cotgrave being agent, and Dr. Decker head sur- 
geon of the hospital, in December, one thousand eight hundred 
and nine, a most malignant and contagious disease, bearing the 
most frightful and mortal symptoms, broke out among the 
French prisoners, which, in the short space of one month, car- 
ried off' more than eight hundred. 

This unfeeling man, Dr. Decker, caused the coffins to be 
brought into the rooms of the hospital to receive the bodies: 
where they often remained several days in readiness to receive 
the unhappy man fast approaching the end of all his sufferings. 

It is said in the manuscript, that this worse than barbarian, 
would gaze with the greatest satisfaction on the surrounding 
victims, that he might discover from the very inmost recesses 
of the heart, what effect the appearance of these coffins had on 
their exhausted spirits. 

However unfeeling this might be, yet their lot was envied 
by hundreds of their countrymen, who were left to perish in 
the prison without any assistance, without a friend, and in 
want of everything ; and would not be received into the Hospi- 
tal by this unfeeling man. 

Their extreme sufferings would have moved the heart even 
of a cannibal, and it is a solitary instance of cruelty, that any 
one belonging to a civilized nation could rejoice at such a 
mournful spectacle, and exult over their fellow-beings in the 
agonies of death, as did this man often, in saying the more deaths 
the fewer enemies. 

Another circumstance is related in the same manuscript, in 
which Capt. Isaac Cotgrave was the principal actor. 

On the eighth of October, one thousand eight hundred and 
nine, the turnkeys, by mistake, had left one of the prison doors 
unlocked, which being discovered by some of the prisoners, they 
determined, if possible, to effect an escape ; they got into the yard 
but, unfortunately, were discovered the very moment they came 
out, by one of the senteries, who gave the alarm, and instantly 
a volley of sixty muskets was discharged at them ; numbers 
were wounded, but none killed ; they then hastily retired into 
the prison. 



108 THE prisoners' MEMOIRS. 

Capt. Cetera ve, the agent, then entered the yard at the head 
of a larg'e body of troops, and after searching the yard in every 
direction, and discovering- nobody he was retiring, when they 
discovered a man creeping along the wall; the blood-thirsty 
monsters instantly fell upon the unhappy victim, and would 
neither listen to his cries nor prayers, but before he could make 
himself known to them, several musket-balls had pierced his 
vital parts, and laid him lifeless on the ground ; but they were 
not content with this ; they ran up to him, and ran over and over 
his lifeless corpse, stabbing it with their bayonets in many 
places; after having satiated their ferocity, on inspecting the 
body, they found it to be one of their own men, whom the dark- 
ness of the night had prevented them from distinguishing. 

In memory of this horrid act, the French prisoners raised a 
monument on the very spot where it was committed ; but the 
keepers of the prison had it destroyed the same day, for it was a 
monument of their cruelty. 

THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF 

PRISONERS. 

We, the undersigned, being each severally sworn on the 
holy evangelists of the Almighty God, for the investigation of 
the circumstances attending the late horrid massacre, and 
having heard the depositions of a great number of witnesses, 
from our own personal knowledge, and from the depositions 
given in as aforesaid, 

Report as Follows: 

That on the 6th of April, about six o'clock in the evening, 
when the prisoners were all quiet in their respective yards, 
it being about the usual time of turning in for the night, and 
the greater part of the prisoners being then in the prisons, the 
alarm bell was rung, and many of the prisoners ran up to the 
Market-square to learn the occasion of the alarm. There 
were then drawn up in the Square several hundred soldiers, 
with Captain Shortland [the Agent] at their head ; it was like- 
wise observed, at the same time, that additional numbers of 
soldiers were posting themselves on the walls round the prison 
yards. One of them observed to the prisoners, that they had 
better go into the prisons, for they would be charged upon di- 
rectly. This, of course, occasioned considerable alarm among 



OR DARTiAlOOR PRISON. 109 



them. In this moment of uncertainty, they were running in 
different directions, inquiring the cause of the alarm — some 
toward their respective prisons, and some toward the Market- 
square. When about one hundred were collected in the 
Square, Captain Shortiand ordered the soldiers to charge upon 
them, which order the soldiers were reluctant in ol>eyino-, as 
the prisoners were using no violence; but on the order beino- 
repeated, they made a charge, and the prisoners retreated out 
of the Square into the prison-yards, and shut the gates after 
them. Captain Shortiand himself opened the gates, and or- 
dered the soldiers to fire in among the prisoners, who were all 
reireating in different directions toward their respective pris- 
ons. It appears there was some hesitation in the minds of 
the officers, whether or not it was proper to fire upon the 
prisoners in that situation; on which Shortiand seized a mus- 
ket out of the hinds of a soldier, which he fired. Imiuediately 
after, the fire became general, and many of the prisoners were 
either killed or wounded. The remainder were endeavoring 
to get into the prisons, when going tovvards the lower doors, 
the soldiers on the walls commenced firing on them from that 
quarter, which killed some and wounded others. After much 
difiiculty, [all the doors being closed in the entrance, but one 
in each prison] the survivors succeeded in gaining the prisons • 
immediately after which, parties of soldiers came to the doors 
of Nos. 3 and 4 prisons, and fired several voUies into them 
through the windows and doors, which killed one man in each 
prison, and severely wounded others. 

It likewise appears, that the preceding butchery was fol- 
lowed up with a disposition of peculiar inveteracy and bar- 
barity. 

One man, who was severely wounded in No. 7 prison- 
yard, and being unable to make his way to the prison, was 
come up with by the soldiers, whom he implored for mercy, 
but in vain ; five of "the hardened wretches immediately lev- ' 
elled their pieces at him, and shot him dead on the spot. — I'he 
soldiers who were posted on the walls, manifested equal cru- 
elty, by keeping up a constant fire on every prisoner they 
could see in the yards endeavoring to get into the prison, when 
their numbers were very few, and when not the least shadow 
of resistance could be made or expected. Several of them 
had got into No. 6 prison cook-house, which was pointed out 
by the soldiers on the vvalls, to those who were marching in 

10 



110 THE prisoner's MEMOIRS, 

omthe Square ; they immediately went up and fired into the 
^ame, which wounded several; one of the prisoners ran out 
with the intention of gaining his prison, but was killed before 
he reached the door. 

On an impartial consideration of the circumstances of 
the case, we are induced to believe that it was a pre- 
meditated scheme in the mind of Captain Shortland, 
for reasons which we will now proceed to give — as an illu- 
cidation of its origin, we will recur back to an event which 
happened some days previous. Captain Shortland was, at the 
time, absent at Plymouth, but before going, he ordered the 
contractor or his clerk to serve out one pound of indifferent 
hard bread, instead of one pound and a half of soft bread, 
their usual allowance — this the prisoners refused to receive — 
they waited all day in expectaiion of their usual allowance 
beinsr served out ; but at senset, finding this w^ould not be the 
case, burst open the lower gates, and virent up to the store, 
demanding to have their bread. 

The officers of the garrison, on being alarmed, and in- 
formed of their proceedings, observed, that it was no more 
than right the prisoners should have their usual allowance, 
and strongly reprobated the conduct of Captain Shortland in 
withholding it from them. They were accordingly served 
with their bread, and quietly returned to their prison. This 
circumstance, with the censures that were thrown on his con- 
duct, reached the ears of Shortland on his return home, and 
he must then have determined on the diabolical plan of seizing 
the first slight pretext to turn in the military, to butcher the 
prisoners for the gratification of his malice and revenge. It 
unfortunately happened, that in the afiernoon of the 6th of 
April, some boys who were playing ball in No. 7 yard, 
knocked their ball over into the barrack-yard, and on the sen- 
try in that yard refusing to throw it back to them, they picked 
a hole in the wall to get in after it. 

ThisafTorded Shortland his wished-for pretext, and he took 
his measures accordingly ; he had all the garrison drawn up 
in the military walk, additional numbers posted on the walls, 
and every thing ready prepared before the alarm bell was 
rung; this, he naturally concluded, would draw the attention 
of a great number of prisoners towards the gates, to learn the 
cause of the alarm, wfiile the turnkeys were despatched into 
the yards to lock all the doors but one of each prison, to pre- 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. HI 



vent the prisoners retreating out of the way before he had suf- 
ficiently wreaked his vengeance. 

What adds peculiar weight to the belief of its being a pre- 
meditated, determined mnssacre, are. 

First. — The sanguinary disposition^ manifested on every oc- 
casion by Shortland, he having, prior to this time, ordered 
the soldiers to fire into the prisons, through the prison win- 
dows, upon unarmed prisoners asleep in their hammocks, on 
account of a light being seen in the prisons; which barbarous 
act was repeated several nights successively. That murder 
was not then committed, was owing to an over-ruling Provi- 
dence alone ; for the balls were picked up in the prison, 
where they passed through the hammocks of men then asleep 
in them. He having also ordered the soldiers to fire upon 
the prisoners in the yard of No. 7 prison, because they 
would not deliver up to him a man who had escaped from the 
cachot, which order the commanding officer of the soldiers re- 
fused to obey; and generally, he having seized on every 
slight pretext to injure the prisoners, by stopping their mar- 
keting for ten days repeatedly, and once a third part of their 
provisions for the same length of time. 

Secondly. — He having been heard to say, when the boys 
had picked the hole in the wall, and some time before the 
alarm bell rung, while all the prisoners were quiet as -usual 
in their respective yards, ^' TlJ fix the damn''d rascals directly^ 

Thirdly. — His having all the soldiers on their posts, and the 
garrison fully prepared before the alarm bell rung. It could 
not then, of course, be rung to assemble the soldiers, but to 
alarm the prisoners, and create confusion among them. 

Fourthly. — The soldiers upon the wall, previous to the alarm 
bell being rung, informing the prisoners that they would be 
charged upon directly. 

Fifthly. — The turnkeys going into the yards and closing all 
the doors but one in each prison, while the attention of the 
prisoners was attracted by the alarm bell. This was done 
about fifteen minutes sooner than usual, and without informing 
the prisoners it was time to shut up. It was ever the inva- 
riable practice of the turnkeys, from vvhich they never de- 
viated before that night, when coming into the yard to shut 
up, to hollow to the prisoners so loud as to be heard through- 
out the yards, '^turn in, turn in f' but, on that night, it was 
done so secretly, that not one man in a hundred knew they 



112 THE prisoners' MEMOIRS, 

were shut; and in particular their shutting the door of No, 
7 prison, wliich the prisoners usually went in and out at, 
[and which was formerly always closed last] and leaving one 
open in the other end of the prison, which was exposed to a 
cross-fire from the soldiers on the walls, and w hich the pris- 
oners had to pass in gaining the prisons. 

We here solemnly aver, that there was no preconcerted 
plan to attempt breaking out. There cannot be produced the 
least shadow of a reason or inducement for that intention, the 
prisoners daily expecting to be released, and to embark on 
board cartels for their native country. And we likewise 
solemnly assert, that there was no intention of resisting, in 
any manner, the authority of this depot. 

N. B. Seven were killed, thirty dangerously wounded, 
and thirty slightly so. Total, sixty-seven killed and wounded. 



(Signed) 



WM. B ORNE, 

WiVl. HOBAFiT, 

JAMES BOGGS, 

JAMES ADAMS, 

FRANCIS JOSEPH, 

JOHN F. TROBRIDGE, /C^owwuiiee. 

JOHN RUST, 
HENRY ALLEN, 
WALTER COLTON, 
THOMAS B. MOTT. 



) 
\ 



Dartmoor Prison, April 7th, 1815. 



The- same day Mr. Ingraham come to the prison and inform- 
ed the prisoners that he had come for the purpose of shipping a 
number of men, to man ships now^ lying" in different ports in 
Europe ; he also informed us that he had been appointed agent, 
under the consular agent of the United States : and that every 
preparation was making for the immediate release of every 
prisoner, and we might be assured of the immediate arrival of 
the ships from London to convey us to the United States. 

On the tenth, a number were discharged to man different ships 
in Europe; this day arrangements were made by the prisoners, 
for the assistance and relief of our wounded countrymen in the 



OK, DARTMOOR PRISON. 113 

Hospiial, and also an arrangement for the prisoners to wear 
crape on their arm for thirty days after their arrival in America, 
as a tribute of respect due to their departed friends and fl low- 
prisoners. The wounded in the hospital were paid every at- 
tention, for their comfort and speedy recovery, by Doctor Ma- 
grath. 

We received no letters from Mr. Beasiey, although hundreds 
of letters had been sent to him since the melancholy event of the 
6th. Reports were circulating that a new agent was to be ap- 
pointed by the United States to supersede Mr Beasiey, which 
every man most anxiously wished might be true, but had not the 
satisfaction to learn it was the case; every day's delay made 
mo.'e confusion and anxiety among tne prisoners. The weath- 
er during this month up to the present day, had been remark- 
ably fine, pure and healthy, and more so than it had been at this 
place since our confinement ; as if the All-Seeing Eye of Hea- 
ven looked down with pity and compassion upon our injured 
and wounded countrymen, and dispensed His blessings for their 
speedy recovery in the salubrity of His air. That passage in 
Holy Writ, in this instance, seemed to be remarkably verified : 
" that when the prisoner was sick in prison, He visited hirn." 

Capt. Shortland, after being acquitted, resumed the command 
of the depot, but he was seldom seen by the prisoners, being very 
apprehensive that the prisoners would shoot him the first oppor- 
tunity ; therefore- he kept a body guard around him, and this 
day a draft of thirty prisoners being discharged, and having to 
pass by his house, he had Jiis guard stationed at his door. 

On the morning of the twelfth, we were informed by Capt. 
Shortland that the drafts for the discharge of the prisoners were 
already made out, and that the draft for the first cartel would 
consist of 280, to be discharged as they entered this depot. I 
therefore obtained the exact number of prisoners then in each 
prison, which I shall give as follows ; 

Prison No 1, contained, - - 1290 

3, - - - 952 

4, - - - 978 

5, - - - 938 
• 7, - - - 1248 

In different employments about the stores 

and hospital, - - - 29 

Patients in the hospital, 107 

Total number of unparoled prisoners in England, 5542 

10* 



114 THE PRISONER S MEMOIRS, 

In visiting the hospitals, I found the wounded prisoners fast 
recovering, all in high spirits, the prison generally more healthy 
than it had been since our arrival in it. Capt. Shortland re- 
moved his family from this place, for his guilt had brought up- 
on him the apprehension of the first draught's retaliating upon 
him by attacking his family ; but no such idea had entered the 
imagination of any prisoner ; it was the creature of his own 
guilt. 

We were ordered at this time to be in readiness to deliver up 
every article which we had received from the British Govern- 
ment ; such as beds, hammocks, blankets, &c., &.c These ar- 
ticles had been in our possession, and in constant use ever since 
the second of April, 1813, and hid never been changed; we felt 
but little reluctance in delivering them up, when animated with 
the idea of once more visiting our native country, and leaving a 
dreary prison, which many of us had inhabited for upwards of 
two years. 

On the following day we received a London paper which 
contained the following account of the late horid massacre at this 
depot ; it read as foUovrs : 

" An affair of a serious nature has recently taken place at 
Dartmoor prison : the prisoners attaching the greater part of the 
fault of their long detention since the peace, to Mr. Beasley 
their country's agent, resident at London, had, before the affray, 
burnt his person in efHgy in the yard of their prison; on ac- 
count of which,. Captain Shortland, unarmed and unattended, 
entered the yard of their prison with a view to appease the ang- 
er of these 'unfortunate men; but his reception was attended 
with the prisoners discharging a pistol at him, the contents of 
which grazed his clerk; upon this the prisoners attempted to 
gain their liberty by rushing out of the gates, but were soon 
coiled by the guards firing upon them, and killing twelve, and 
wounding thirty." 

The account was equally base and false, as the act was cruel 
and murderous; but the m"ention of twelve killed confirmed the 
prisoners in their belief that this number had been killed, and 
the five which were not to be found, were secretly buried by 
Captain Shortland that night, and that he, in the guilty and con- 
fused state of his mind, had given an account of twelve instead 
of seven, which were the only ones found of the killed. I leave 
it to the reader to judge whether nature or habit had done most 
towards hardening the feelings of this man It is well known 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 115 

that men accustomed to the sufferings and misery of their fel- 
low-beings, soon grow hardened and forget them. But could 
this man from the short time here, have grown so callous in his 
feelings as to commit such acts from habit, or must cruelty and 
malice have been woven in his constitution? 

On this day, the prisoners in making preparation for their 
departure, prepared a large white flag, and as a memento had 
in the middle of it, the representation of a tomb, with the God- 
dess of Liberty leaning on it, and a murdered sailor lying by 
its side, and an inscription over jt in large capital letters, 
^'Columbia we efs, and we remember ^ This flag was intended 
to be carried home to the United States, as it showed a just 
resentment for the execrable deeds which it recorded, and a 
just respect for the sufferers. This same day, numbers of 
prisoners were released by application of their friends in Eng- 
land, for the purpose of manning ships in different ports. We 
had no news from Mr. Beasley, and most of the prisoners 
barefooted, the oldest in a state of nudity, not having received 
any jackets or trowsers for more than eleven months. 

At length, when we were almost dead with impatience and 
delay, on the fourteenth we received a Utter from Mr. Beas- 
ley to the following etfect: 
" Fellow Citizens, 

" I have been informed that numbers of the prisoners have 
entertained an idea that they are to remain in prison, until 
the arrival of some United States' ships in this country ; but 
I can assure them that there is no foundation for the belief; 
and I can assure them of eight cartels being already taken up 
for their conveyance to the United States. And with regret I 
hear from officers who were sent to inquire into the shameful 
conduct of the sixth of April, that the extravagant excess of the 
prisoners was parti}?- occasioned by their censuring the United 
States and myself." 

Mr. Beasley had, no doubt, been informed of \vhat he wrote, 
but it was not the fact, for his information, no doubt, came 
from the two officers who were here, the Admiral and his as- 
sociate ; but no such conversation took place in their hearing, 
which numbers of the most respectable prisoners can testify, 
and no such idea had been entertained by any prisoner in the 
prison. These officers intended that Mr. Beasley shou>d bear 
all the blame. God knows his conduct was blameable enough 
throughout; but to do him justice he had no blame in the 



116 THE prisoners' MEMOIRS, 



murderous act of the fatal sixth of April. His effigy had been 
burnt on the 24th of March, and all animosity had been dissi- 
pated with the ashes of his effigy, and his name seemed to be 
forgotten, for it was scarcely ever mentioned, Mr. Beasley 
had had every particular of the event before his interview with 
the officers, but made no exertions as yet to inquire into the 
affray. 

The weather up to this day since the month began, had 
been remarkably fine for this place, but this morning the 
mo:>r, as far as the eye could reach, was covered with snow, 
and continued to snow all day, and the weather very cold. 

On the sixteenth we received letters from London, from 
many of our fellow-citizens, who had received passports and 
left the prison since the fatal sixth of April ; on their arrival 
in London, they were taken before the lord mayor of that 
city, and their depositions taken relative to the massacre of 
the sixth, which was to the same purport as before the coni- 
mittee. On the same day, Col. Hawker, formerly consular 
aoent, under the American consul at London, visited the 
prison for the purpose of shipping seamen to man ships at 
Plymouth, bound to New-Orleans. In this way the prisoners 
were daily diminishing in number, as any one might obtain a 
passport who could procure a friend to make application for 
their release, and informing Mr. Beasley that they required 
no assistance from him to convey them to the United States. 
In obtaining a passport in this way from Capt. Shortland, 
they needed no other protection in this country. 

This day a man was committed to the cachot for drawing 
money from Col. Hawker in an assumed name. The colonel 
was determined to have him brought to condign punishment: 
this man the next day was taken out of the cachot and con- 
veyed to Exeter, to be tried at the next August assizes. 

On visiting the hospital, I found the wounded and the sick 
fast recovering, and had every attention paid them by Dr. 
Magrath, for their health and comfort, that his resources 
would allow. 

On the seventeenth, a black man belonging to No. 4 was 
found dead in his hammock. On this day we received 
another letter from Mr. Beasley, which informed us that 
those officers who had visited the prison by order of the 
British government, had represented the conduct of the pri- 
soners on the sixth of April, in a very unfavorable light, but 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 117 

having- received a correct statement from the prison, and a 
general summary of the evidence on both sides as delivered 
in to the jury of inquest; he now apologized for his last 
letter. 

On the nineteenth, at four o'clock in the afternoon, an 
express arrived informing Capt. Shortland that one cartel had 
arrived at Plymouth, and ordered him immediately to remove 
two hundred and forty-nine prisoners from this depot to that 
place, for embarking on board the ship. At five in the after- 
noon, the whole draft was collected in the square, with all 
their baggage. This was the first draft of prisoners that had 
entered the prison after the declaration of Avar, and had been 
immured within these gloomy walls more than two long and 
tedious years. They were then informed that one baggage 
wagon would be allowed to every hundred men, for the con- 
venience of their baggage to Plymouth. 

The prisoners being the greater part barefooted, made 
inquiry whether any arrangement had been made by Mr. 
Beasley for providing them with shoes and clothes, as they 
were much in want of them ; but were much surprised and 
disappointed when they found no provision had been made. 
The mfrney due from government had run over the usual 
time of payment, now twenty-five days, although application 
had previously been made for the payment of the dailv allow- 
ance, and also, the other articles, both by the prisoners and 
Capt. Shortland himself; but Mr. Beasley still neglected to 
make any arrangement for either. 

At six every prisoner's name was called, and they com- 
mitte"d together with their baggage to a separate prison, ready 
for their departure the next morning. The joy they felt on 
this occasion is better imagined than described ; I therefore 
leave to the imagination of the reader, what emotions the 
heart must feel, when a change which promised every endear- 
ment of life to them, and freed them from every evil of it, 
was about to take place. 

I visited the hospital this evening for the last time, and had 
the pleasing satisfaction of finding the sick and wounded in a 
stale of fast recovery, except a few who were dangerous. 

The next morning we took our departure for Plymouth, 
and with joy in our hearts bid farewell to that pale of misery, 
and at four in the afternoon arrived at Plymouth, having 
travelled all the way under the direction of a strong guard. 



118 THE prisoners' MEMOIRS, 



We were immediately embarked on board the cartel Maria 
Christiana, a Swedish ship, commanded by Capt. Dirkes; we 
found some few of our countrymen who had been on parole, 
on board the ship. 

It was now just forty days since the arrival of the ratified 
treaty in England. 

The next day eight of the prisoners left the cartel to join a 
brig under French colors bound for France. 

On the twenty-second the wind being contrary, the prison- 
ers were permitted to go on shore and spend the day. A 
court of inquiry had been instituted by commissioners ap- 
pointed by both governments, for the investigation of the 
unfortunate occurrences of the sixth ot April, and was then 
sitting for that purpose. Several of the prisoners were called 
upon to give evidence in the cause, and their depositions 
taken by the court that day. 

The court was attended by Mr. Williams, deputy consular 
agent to Mr. Beasley. 

Before we set sail Mr. Williams informed us that he was 
instructed by Mr. Beasley to take down all the particulars of 
the investigation, for the purpose of laying them before the 
American government ; but the commissioners had not re- 
ported when we left Plymouth, but it was expected they 
would in a few days, which shall constitute a part of this 
work as soon as it is received. 

Mr. Williams informed us that the money allowed by 
government, which had been due thirty days* would not be 
paid by Mr. Beasley, nor would any provision be made by 
him for shoes or clothing, but that the prisoners must go 
home as they were. 

On the twenty-third, the wind being favorable, we hove 
short, and made preparations for sailing. 

On mustering the prisoners, we found their number 
amounted to two hundred and sixty-three; this increase of 
number was by officers paroled at Ashburton. 

At three in the afternoon we left the port of Plymouth, 
with a fresh and favorable wind. 

We had left behind at Dartmoor five thousand one hundred 
and ninety-three of our fellow prisoners, whom the agent ii*- 
formed us would be conveyed to this place in the same 
manner as ourselves in a few days, as the other cartels were 
on their way round to Plymouth, and thence to embark 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 119 



immediately for the United States. After leaving Plymouth 
we found the provisions under the direction of Capt. Turner, 
appointed by the agents to deal out the rations to the prisoners. 

We were allowed, five days in the week, one pound of salt 
beef, one pound of bread, half a pound of potatoes a day; 
the other two days one pound of pork, the same quantity of 
bread, and half a pint of peas per man, and half a pint of 
vinegar a week. 

Mr. Beasley had made arrangements for eac h pri&onerto 
have a small bed and blanket ; the cartel was equipped 
according to custom, with great guns and small arms. 

A Physician had been appointed with a sufficient quantity 
of medicine to serve during the passage. 

One part of the ship was allotted to the sick, where every 
attention was paid them by their countrymen for their com- 
fort and convenience. 

During the residue of the month nothing material occurred; 
cartel quite healthy, only five cases of sick, and them not 
very dangerous ; the month ended with winds, light and 
unfavorable. 

On the first of May we were in lat. 45° North, and longi- 
tude 23° 4P West. On the second, being in long. 24°, we 
spoke a brig from London bound to Cluebec. 

From the first to the fourteenth the winds were from N.W. 
to S. W, and the cartel kept between the latitudes of 42^ and 
44° North. 

Some few sick but not dangerously On this day we dis- 
covered a sail on our weather beam, standing to the east- 
ward ; at 2 P. M. she bore up and stood for the cartel, with a 
British flag flying ; at four we spoke her in lat, 42, and long. 
38. She proved to be a British transport with a number of 
troops from Mobile, bound to England, and fourteen days 
from Bermuda. She sent her boat ixlong-side of the cartel 
with a naval and military officer, and the captain of the trans- 
port ; they came on board the cartel and remained for an 
hour, and then returned to the transport, and each ship made 
sail for their destined places 

The winds still continued the same way the twenty-eighth. 
This day, Sunday, we fell in with several large islands of Ice, 
lat. 43° ; on the same day, lat. 42° long 60°, we spoke the 
brig Sally Barker, six days from Boston, bound for Portugal ; 
the three days following the winds continuing light, from the 



120 THE prisoners' MEMOIRS, . 



South and West, we spoke a brig from Portland four days 
out, bound to Surinam. 

Cartel perfectly healthy, with the exception of one man 
very law in a consumption. 

On the first of June, lat. 40, 50, long. 64, spoke the ship 
Helvitius, of Philadelphia, bound home, after remaining- during 
the whole war up the east country. On the 2nd of June, lat. 
40, 35, long 69, the majority of the prisoners agreed to take 
possession of the cartel, and run her into New-York, for the 
following reasons : the ship being disabled by the loss of her 
main trussel-lrees, which endangered the top-mast, and ren- 
dered her unfit for sea; secondly, there being every appear- 
ance of a gale from the S. W. and the weather thick and 
hazy ; thirdly, the port of Nevv-York being the most con- 
venient for the greater part of the prisoners ; for which 
reasons, at twelve meridian, by the general voice of all on 
board, the command was taken from her former captain, and 
she directed for the port of New-York. At 4, P. M. the man 
in a consumption " put off this mortal coil," and took his 
quietus in thirty-five fathoms of water, in the usual form 

at sea. 

The captain of the ship required some document, that he 
mic^ht show for his indeninification for resigning the com- 
mand of the ship, and deviating from his destined port, which 
was Norfolk, Vir. ; the following certificate, signed by a 
great number of the prisoners, was delivered him. 



CERTIFICATE. 



" We, the undersigned, citizens of the United States of 
America, do hereby certify, that on the second day of June, 
1815, at twelve meridian, being in lat. 40, 30, long. 69, 30, 
by mutual agreement of a majority of prisoners now on 
board the cartel Maria Christiana, bound for Norfolk, did 
take possession of her, and directed her for the port of New- 
York." , ^ , 

At four o'clock on the third, we discovered the highland 
of New-Jersey bearing W. by S. ; at eight made the light 
house, distance three or four leagues; at two P. M. obtained 
a pilot and stood within the Hook; at seven came to an 
anchor ; the next morning arrived at New-York. 

Having received the report of the commissioners since our 
arrival in the United States, we shall give it to the reader 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 12l 



verbatim. The reader will perceive that it differs somewhat 
from the account of the massacre which I have given before, 
and that of the committee of prisoners. The public are to 
judge of the report ; the facts seemed not to warrant just such 
an one ; but to give my simple opinion as an individual, I 
believe that the commissioners, through a soxi of pia fraus 
for the love of peace and harmony between the two govern- 
ments, have made it a vail of amnesty, and a preventative of 
new troubles. 



THE REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS. 

Plymouth, 26th April, 1815. 

We, the undersigned commissioners, appointed on behaJf of 
our respective governments, to inquire into, and report upon, 
the unfortunate occurrence of the 6ih of April instant, at Dart- 
moor prison, having carefully perused the proceedings of the 
several courts of inquiry instituted immediately after that 
event, by the orders of Admiral Sir John T. Duckworth and 
Major General Brown respectively, as well as the depositions 
taken at the coroner's inquest upon the bodies of the prisoners 
who lost their lives upon that melancholy occasion ; upon 
which inquest the jury found a verdict of justifiable homicide ; 
proceed immediately to the examination upon oath, in the pre- 
sence of one or more of the magistrates of the vicinity, of all 
the witnesses, both American and English, who offered them- 
selves for that purpose, or who could be discovered as likely 
to afford any material information upon the subject, as well 
as those who had been previously examined before the coro- 
ner, or otherwise, to the number in the whole of about eighty. 
We further proceed to a minute examination of the prisons, for 
the purpose of clearing up some points, which upon the evi- 
dence alone, were scarcely intelligible ; obtaining from the 
prisoners, and from the officers of the depot, all the necessary 
assistance and explanation ; and premising, that we have been 
from necessity compelled to draw many of our conclusions 
from statements and evidence highly contradictory, we do 
now make upon the whole proceedings the following report : 
During the period which has elapsed since the arrival in 
this country of the account of the ratification of the treaty of 
Ghent, an increased degree of restlessness and impatience of 

11 



l22 THE prisoners' memoirs, 



confinement appears to have prevailed amongst the American 
prisoners at Dartmoor, which, though not exhibited in the 
shape of any violent excess, has been principally indicated by 
threats of breaking out if not soon released. 

On the fourth of this month in particular, only two days 
previous to the events, the subject of this inquiry, a large body 
of the prisoners rushed into the market-square, from whence, 
by the regulations of the prison, they are excluded, demand- 
ing bread, instead of bircuit, which had on that day been is- 
sued by the officers of the depot ; their demands, however, 
having been then almost immediately complied with, they re- 
turned to their own yards, and the employment of force on 
that occasion became unnecessary. 

On the evening of the sixth, about six o'clock, it was clearly 
proved to us, that a breach had been made in one of the 
prison walls, sufficient for a full-sized man to pass, and that 
others had been commenced in the course of the day near the 
same spot, though never completed. 

That a number of the prisoners were over the railing 
erected to prevent them from communicating with the senti- 
nels on the walls, which was of course forbidden by the reg- 
ulations of the prison, and that in the space between the rail- 
ing and those walls, they were tearing up pieces of turf, and 
wantonly pelting each other in a noisy and disorderly 
manner. 

That a much more considerable number of the prisoners 
was collected together at that tim«i in one of their yards near 
the place where the breach was effected, and that although 
such collection of prisoners was not unusual at other times 
(the gambling tables being commonly kept in that part of the 
yard) yet, when connected with the circumstances of the 
breach, and the time of the day, which was after the hour the 
signal for the prisoners to their respective prisons had ceased 
to sound, it became a natural and just ground of alarm to 
those who had charge of the depot. 

It was also in evidence that in the building formerly the 
petty officers' prison, but now the guard barrack, which 
stands in the yard to which the hole in the wall would serve 
as a communication, a part of the arms of the guard who 
were off duly, were usually kept in the racks, and though 
there was no evidence that this was in any respect the motive 
which induced the prisoners to make the opening in the wall, 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 123 

or even that they were ever acquainted with the fact, it natur- 
ally became at least a further cause of suspicion and alarm, 
and an additional reason for precaution. 

Upon these grounds, Captain Shortland appears to us to 
have been justified in giving- the order, which about this time . 
he seems to have given, to sound the alarm-bell, the usuar'' 
signal for collecting the officers of the depot, and putting the 
military on the alert. 

However reasonable and justifiable this was as a measure 
of precaution, the effects produced thereby in the prisons, 
but which could not have been intended, were most unfortu- 
nate, and deeply to be regretted. A considerable number of 
the prisoners in the yards, where no disturbances existed 
before, and who were either already within their respective 
prisons, or quietly retiring as usual towards them, imme- 
diately upon the sound of the bell rushed back from curiosity 
(as it appears) towards. the gates, where, by that time, the 
crowd had assembled, and many who were at the time absent 
from their yards, were also, from the plan of the prison, com- 
pelled, in order to reach their own homes, to pass by the 
same spot, and thus, that which was merely a measure of pre- 
caution, in its operation increased the evil it was intended to 
prevent. 

Almost at the same instant that the alarm-bell rang, (but 
whether before or subsequent, is, upon the evidence, doubtful, 
though Captain Shortland states it positively, as one of his 
further reasons for causing it to ring) some one or more of 
the prisoners broke the iron chain, which was the only fast- 
ening of No. 1 gate, leading into the market-square, by means 
of an iron bar ; and a very considerable number of the priso- 
ners immediately rushed towards that gate : and many of 
them began to press forwards as fast as the opening would 
permit, into the square. 

There was no direct proof before us of previous concert or 
preparation on the part of the prisoners; and no evidence of 
their intention or disposition to effect their escape on this oc- 
casion, excepting that which arose by inference from the whole 
of the above detailed circumstances connected together. 

The natural and almost irresistible inference to be drawn, 
however, from the conduct of the prisoners by Captain Short- 
land and the military, was, that an intention on the part of the 
prisoners to escape was on the point of being carried into exe- 



124 THE prisoners' memoirs, 



cation, and it was at least certain that they were by force pass- 
ing beyond the limits prescribed to them, at a lime when they 
ought to have been quietly going in for the night. It was also 
in evidence that the outer gates of the market square were 
usually opened about this time to let the bread-wagon pass 
and repass to the store, although at the period in question they 
were in fact closed. 

Under these circumstances, and with these impressions ne- 
cessarily operating upon his mind, and a knowledge that if the 
prisoners once penetrated through the square, the power of 
escape was almost to a certainty afforded to them, if they 
should be so disposed. Capt. Shortland, in the first instance, 
proceeded down the square towards the prisoners, having or- 
dered a part of the different guards, to the number of about 
.fifty only at first, (though they were increased afterwards,) to 
follow him. For some time both he and Dr. McGrath en- 
deavored by quiet means and persuasion, to induce the prison- 
ers to retire to their own yards, explaining to them the fatal 
consequences which must ensue if they refused, as the military 
would in that case be necessarily compelled to employ force. 
The guard was by this time formed in the rear of Capt. Short- 
land, about two thirds of the way down the square — the latter 
is about one hundred feet broad, and the guard extended near- 
ly all across. Captain Shortland, finding that persuasion was 
all in vain, and that although some were induced by it to make 
an effort to retire, others pressed on in considerable numbers, 
at last ordered about 15 file of the guard, nearly in front of the 
gale which had been forced, to charge the prisoners back to 
their own yards. I'he prisoners were in some places so near 
the military, that one of the soldiers states he could not come 
fairly down to the charge ; and the military were unwilling to 
act as against an enemy. Some of the prisoners also were 
unwilling and reluctant to retire, and some pushing and strug- 
gling ensued between the parties, arising partly from intention, 
but mainly from the pressure of those behind preventing those 
in front from getting back. After some little time, however, 
this charge appears to have been so far effective, and that with 
little or no injury to the prisoners, as to have driven them for 
the most part quite down out of the square, with the exception 
of a small number who continued their resistance about No. 1 
gate. A great crowd still remained collected after this in the 
passage between the square and the prisoners' yards, and in 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 125 



the part of these yards in the vicinity of the gates. This as- 
semblage still refused to withdraw, and according to most of 
the English witnesses, and some of the American, was mak- 
in<r a noise, hallooing, insulting and provoking, and daring the 
military to fire, and, according to the evidence of sonie of the 
soldiers, and some others, was pelting the military with large 
stones, by which some of them were actually struck. This 
circumstance is, however, denied by many of the American 
witnesses; and some of the English, upon having the question 
put to them, stated they saw no stones thrown previously to 
the firing, although their situation at the time was such as to 
enable them to see most of the other proceedings in the square. 
Under these circumstances the firing commenced. With re- 
gard to any order having been given to fire, the evidence is 
very contradictory. Several of the Americans swear positive- 
ly that Capt. Shortland gave that order; but the manner in 
which, from the confusion of the moment, they describe this 
part of the transaction, is so different in its details, that it is 
very difficult to reconcile their testimony. Many of the sol- 
diers and other English witnesses heard the word given by 
some one, but no one of them can swear it was by Capt. Short- 
land, or by any one in particular, and some, amongst whom is 
the officer commanding the guard, think, if Capt. Shortland 
had given such an order, that they must have heard it, which 
they did not. In addition to this, Capt. Shdttland denies the 
fact ; and from the situation in which he'appeais to have been 
placed at the time, even according to the American witnesses," 
in front of the soldiers, it may appear somewhat improbable 
that he should then have given such an order. But, however, 
it may remain a matter of doubt whether the firing first began 
in the square by order, or was a spontaneous act of the soldiers 
themselves, it seemed clear that it was continued and renewed 
both there and elsewhere, without orders ; and that on the plat- 
forms, and in several places about the prison, it was certainly 
commenced without any authority. The fact of an order hav- 
ing been given at first, provided the firing was, under the ex- 
isting circumstances, justifiable, does not appear very material 
in any other point of view than as showing a want of self-pos- 
session and discipline in the troops, if they should have fired 
without order. With regard to the above most important con- 
sideration, of whether the firing was justifiable or not, we are 
of opinion, under all the circumstances of the case, from the 

11* 



126 THE prisoners' memoirs, 



apprehension which the soldiers might fairly entertain, owing 
to the numbers and conduct of the prisoners, that this firing to 
a certain extent, was justifiable in a military point of view, in 
order to intimidate the prisoners, and compel them thereby to de- 
sist from all acts of violence, and to retire as they Avere ordered, 
from a situation in which the responsibility of the agents, and 
the military, could not permit them with safety to remain.- — 
From the fact of the crowd being so close, and the firing at 
first being attended with very little injury, it appears probable 
that a large proportion ot the muskets were, as stated by one 
or two of the witnesses, levelled over the heads of the priso- 
ners ; a circumstance in some respects to be lamented, as it 
induced them to cry out " blank catridges," and merely irri- 
tated and encouraged them to renew their insults to the 
soldiery, which produced a repetition of the firing in a man- 
ner much more destructive. The firing in the square having 
continued for some time, by which several of the prisoners 
sustained injuries, the greater part of them appear to have 
been running back with the utmost precipitation and confusion 
to their respective prisons, and the cause for further firing 
seems at this period to have ceased. It appears accordingly 
that Capt. Shortland was in the market square, exerting him- 
self and giving orders to that effect, and that Lieut. Fortye 
had succeeded in stopping the fire of his part of the guard. 
Under these cireumstances, it is very difficult to find any jus- 
tification for the further continuance and renewal of the firing, 
which certainly took place both in the prison yards and else- 
where ; though we have some evidence of subsequent provo- 
cation given to the military, and resistance to the turnkeys 
in shutting the prisons, and of stones being thrown out from 
within the prison doors. The subsequent firing rather ap- 
pears to have arisen from the state of individual irritation and 
exasperation on the part of the soldiers who followed the pris- 
oners into their yards, and from the absence of nearly all the 
officers, who might have restrained it ; as well as from the 
great difficulty of putting an end to a firing when once com- 
menced under such circumstances. Capt. Shortland was from 
this time busily occupied with the turnkeys in the square, re- 
ceiving and taking care of the wounded. Ensign White 
remained with his guard at the breach, and Lieuts. Avelyne 
and Fortye, the only other subalterns known to have been 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 127 

present, continued in the square with the main bodies of their 
respective guards. 

The time of the day, which was the officers' dinner hour, 
will, in some measure, explain this, as it caused. the absence 
of every officer from the prison whose presence was not in- 
dispensable there. And this circumstance, which has been 
urged as an argument to prove the intention uDf the prisoners 
to take this opportunity to escape, tended to increase the con- 
fusion, and to prevent those great exertions being made, 
which might perhaps have obviated a portion, at least, of the 
mischief which ensued. 

At the same time that the firing was going on in the 
square, a cross fire was also kept up from several of the plat- 
forms on the walls round the prison where the sentries stand, 
by straggling parties of soldiers who ran up there for that 
purpose. As far as this fire was directed to disperse the men 
assembled round the breach, for which purpose it was most 
effectual, it seems to stand upon the same ground as that in 
the first instance in the square. But that part, which it is 
positively sworn was directed against struggling parties of 
prisoners running about the yards and endeavoring to enter 
in the few doors which ihe turnkeys, according to their usual 
practice, had left open, does seem, as stated, to have been 
wholly without object or excuse, and to have been a wanton 
attack upon the lives of defenceless, and at that time unoffend- 
ing individuals. In the same, or even more severe terms, we 
must remark upon what Avas proved as to the firing into the 
door-ways of the prisons, more particularly into that of No. 
3 prison, at a time when the men were in crowds at the 
entrance. From the position of the prison and of the door, 
and from the marks of the balls which were pointed out to us, 
as well as from the evidence, it was clear this firing must 
have proceeded from soldiers a very few feet from the door- 
way ; and although it was certainly sworn that the prisoners 
were at the time of part of the firing at least, continuing to 
insult and occasionally to throw stones at the soldiers, and 
that they were standing in the way of, and impeding the 
turnkey, who was there for the purpose of closing the door, 
yet still there v/as nothing stated wh'ch could in our view at 
all justify such excessively harsh and severe treatment of 
helpless and unarmed prisoners, when all idea of escape was 
at an end. Under these impressions we used every endeavor 



128 THE prisoners' memoirs. 



to ascertain if there was the least prospect of identifying any 
of the soldiers who had been guilty of the particular outrages 
here alluded to, or of tracing any particular death at that 
time to the firing of any particular individual, but without suc- 
cess ; and all hopes of bringing th'e offenders to punishment 
should seem to be at an end. In conclusion, we, the under- 
sio^ned, have only to add, that whilst we lament, as we do 
most deeply, the unfortunate transaction which has been the 
subject of this inquiry, we find ourselves totally unable to 
suggest any steps to be taken as to those parts of it which seem 
to call for redress and punishment. 

(Signed) CHARLES KING, ' 

FRAS. SEYMOUR LARPENT. 



London, 18th April, 1815. 

Sir, 

At the request of Lord Castlereagh, we have had 
interviews with him and Mr. Goulburn on the subject of the 
transportation of the American prisoners now in this country, 
to the United States, and of the late unfortunate event at the 
depot at Dartmoor. 

On the first subject we agreed to advise your acceptance of 
the proposition of Lord Castlereagh to transport the prisoners 
at the joint expense of the two countries, reserving the con- 
struction of the articles of the treaty, which provides for the 
mutual restoration of prisoners, for future adjustment. It 
was stated by us, and was so understood, that the joint 
expense, thus to be incurred, is to comprehend as well the 
requisite tonnage as the subsistence of the prisoners ; and 
moreover that measures of precaution should be adopted rela- 
tive to the health and comfort of the prisoners similar to those 
which had taken place in America. 

The details of this arrangement, if you concur with us as 
to the expediency of making it, are left with you to settle 
with the proper British authority. 

On the other subject, as a statement of the transaction has 
been received from the American prisoners, differing very 
materially in fact from that which had j-esulted from an 
inquiry instituted by the port admiral, it has been thought 
advisable that some means should be devised of procuring 
information as to the real state of the case, in order, on the 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 129 

one hand, to show that there had not been any wanton or im- 
proper sacrifice of the lives of American citizens, or, on the 
other, to enable the British government to punish their civil 
and military officers, if it should appear that ihey have 
resorted to measures of extreme severity without necessity, or 
with loo much precipitation. 

Lord Castlereagh proposed that the inquiry should be a 
joint one, conducted by a commissioner selected by each 
government. And we have thought such an inquiry most 
likely to produce an impartial and satisfactory result. 

We presume that you will have too much occupation on 
the first subject and the other incidental duties of your office, 
to attend to this inquiry in person. On that supposition, we 
have stated to the British government that we should recom- 
mend to you the selection of Charles King, Esq. as a fit 
person to conduct it on behalf of the American government. 
If Mr. King will undertake the business, he will forthwith 
proceed to Dartmoor, and in conjunction with the British 
commissioner, who may be appointed on the occasion, will 
examine the persons concerned, and such other evidence as 
may be thought necessary, and make a joint report upon the 
facts of the case to John Gl. Adams, Esq. Minister Plenipoten- 
tiary of the United States at this court, and to the British 
government. 

The mode of executing this service must be left to the dis- 
cretion of Mr. King and his colleague. If they can agree 
upon a narrative of the facts after having heard the evidence, 
it will be better than reporting the whole mass of testimony 
in detail, which they may perhaps find it necessary to do, if 
they cannot come to such an agreement. 

We are, sir, your obedient humble servants, 

(Signed) H. CLAY, 

ALBERT GALLATIN. 

R. G. Beasley, Esq. &c., &c. 



Plymouth, 26th April, 1815. 
Sir, 

In pursuance of instructions received from Messrs. 
Clay and Gallatin, I have now the honor to transmit to you 
the report prepared by Mr. Larpent and myself on behalf of 
our respective governments, in relation to the unfortunate 



130 THE prisoners' MEMOIRS, 



transactions at Dartmoor Prison of War, on the 6th of the 
present month. Considering it of much importance that the 
report, whatever it might be, should go forth under our joint 
signatures, I have forborne to press some of the points which 
it involves, as far as otherwise I might have done, and it 
therefore may not be improper in this letter to enter into 
some little explanation of such parts of the report. Although 
it does appear that a part of the prisoners were on that evening 
in such a state, and under such circumstances, as to have jus- 
tified, in the view which the commander of the depot could 
not but take of it, the intervention of the military force, and 
even .in a strict sense, the first use of fire-arms, yet I cannot 
but express it as my settled opinion, that by conduct a little 
more temporizing, this dreadful alternative of firing upon 
unarmed prisoners might have been avoided. Yet as this 
opinion has been the result of subsequent examination, and 
after having acquired a knowledge of the comparatively 
harmless state of the prisoners, it may be but fair to consider, 
whether in such a moment of confusion and alarm, as that 
appears to have been, the officer commanding could have 
fairly estimated his danger, or have measured out with pre- 
cision the extent and nature of the force necessary to guard 
against it. 

But when the firing became general, as it afterwards ap- 
pears to have done, and caught with electric rapidity from the 
square to the platforms, there is no plea or shadow of excuse 
for it, except in the personal exasperation of the soldiery, nor 
for the more deliberate, and therefore more unjustifiable, firing 
which took place into three of the prisons, No. 1, 3 and 4, but 
more particularly into No. 3, after the prisoners had retired 
into them, and there was no longer any pretence of apprehen- 
sions as to their escape. Upon this ground, as you, sir, will 
perceive by the report, Mr. Larpent and myself had no dilTer- 
ence of opinion, and I am fully persuaded that my own regret 
.was not greater than his, at perceiving how hopeless would 
be the attempt to trace to any individuals of the military these 
outrageous proceedings. 

As to whether the order to fire came from Captain Short- 
land, I yet confess myself unable to form any satisfactory 
opinion, though perhaps the bias of my mind is, that he did 
give such an order. But his anxiety and exertions to stop it 
after it had continued for some little time, are fully proved, 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 131 

and his general conduct, previous to this occurrence, as far as 
we could with propriety enter into such details, appears to 
have been characterized with great fairness, and even kind- 
ness, in the light in which he stood towards the pri^soners. 

On the subject of any complaints against their own govern- 
ment existing among the prisoners, it was invariably answered 
to several distinct questions put by me on that head, that none 
whatsoever existed or had been expressed by them, although 
they confessed themselves to entertain some animosity against 
Mr. Beasley, to whom they attributed their detention in this 
country ; with what justice you, sir, will be better able to 
judge. They made no complaint whatsoever, as to their pro- 
visions and general mode of living and treatment in the prison, 

I have transmitted to Mr. Beasley a list of the killed and 
wounded on this melancholy occasion, with a request that he 
would forward it to the United States for the information ©f 
their friends at home, and I am pleased to have it in my power 
to say, that the wounded are for the most part doing well. 

I have also enclosed to Mr. Beasley the notes taken by me 
of the evidence adduced before us, with a request that he 
would have them fairly copied, as also a -copy of the depo- 
sitions taken before the coroner, and desired him to submit 
them to you when in order. 

I cannot conclude, sir, without expressing my high sense 
of the impartiality and manly firmness with which this in- 
quiry has been conducted on the part of Mr. Larpent, nor 
without mentioning that every facility was afforded to us in 
its prosecution, as well by the military officers commanding 
here and at the prison, as by the magistrates in the vicinity. 

I have the honor to be, with much respect, your most obe- 
dient humble servant, 

(Signed) CHARLES KING. 

His Excellency, J. Q.. Adams, <fec., &c. 



London, 30th April, 1815. 
Sir: 

In my letter of the 19th instant, I informed you of the 
measures which had been adopted here in consequence of the 
late unfortunate event at Dartmoor prison. 



132 THE prisoners' memoirs, 



I have now the honor to transmit the copy of a letter ad- 
dressed to me by Mr. Clay and Mr. Gallatin, relative to that 
occurrence, and to the transportation of the American prison- 
ers in this country to the United States. 

In the absence of Mr. Adams, it becomes my duty to com- 
municate, for the information of our government, the result of 
the investigation at 'Dartmoor. I enclose a copy of the joint 
report of the commissioners appointed for that purpose, also of 
a letter from Mr. King to Mr. Adams, and of a list of the 
killed and wounded on that melancholy occasion. 

I shall leave to Mr. Adams any further steps which he may 
deem it proper to take in this business. I cannot, however, 
forbear to notice the erroneous impression of the prisoners, 
that their detention so long has been owing to me. You are 
aware, sir, of my constant exertions during the war to effeet 
their liberation. I immediately, on the signing of the treaty 
of peace at Ghent, renewed my instances on that subject ; 
proposing, as a condition, that all prisoners who might be de- 
livered over to me by the British government, should be con- 
sidered as prisoners of war, and not at liberty to serve until 
regularly exchanged, in the event of the treaty not being rat- 
ified by the President. This proposition ^fas declined, and 
in a peremptory manner. 

On the receipt of the intelligence of the ratification from 
America, I lost not a moment in requesting the release of the 
prisoners, according to the terms of the treaty ; and the num- 
ber of vessels which I had hired, as mentioned in my letter of 
the 13th, and which are now on their voyage to the United 
States, will show that the necessary steps were taken to pro- 
vide for their immediate transportation to their country. The 
prisoners also were informed of these measures, and of the 
exertions which had been made from the commencement, to 
return them to their homes with the least possible delay. 
Therefore, whatever may have been their uneasiness, under 
confinement, and whatever hostile feelings they may have 
had towards me, as noticed in the report, and in Mr. King's 
letter, I must say, with confidence, that I could not prevent 
the one, nor have I deserved the other. 

I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient humble 
servant, 

R. G. BEASLEY. 

The Hon. John Mason, &c. &.c. 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 133 



[From the Plymouth (Eng.) Telegraph, April 22, 1815.] 
To the Editor : 
Sir, 

The officers and prisoners of this depot, feeling an ar- 
dent desire that the citizens of the United Slates may be in- 
formed of the many and great services rendered them by Dr. 
Magrath, and likewise that the subjects of Great Britain may 
learn with what sentiments of gratitude and respect his un- 
paraleled efforts in the cause of humanity, and the discharge 
of his duty, have, at this depot, filled us; we have to request 
that you will cause to be inserted in your paper, as early as 
possible, copies of the enclosed testimonials, addressed to that 
gentleman. I am, &c., 

BENJAMIN MERCER. 
Hospital, April 13, 1815. 



Dartmoor Prison, March 28, 1815. 
To His Excellency James Madison, 

Honored and respected Sir : 

From the general philanthrophy of your character, and 
liberality of sentiment, no apology is deemed requisite for in- 
troducing to your particular notice, and that of the nation at 
laige, Dr. George Magrath, principal of the medical depart- 
ment for the American prisoners of war in England. It is 
impossible for us to speak of this gentleman in terms that will 
do justice to his superior professional science, brilliant talents, 
the exemplary virtues of his heart, the urbanity and easy ac- 
cessibility of his manners, his unremitting assiduities and 
unwearied exertions, in combatting a succession of diseases of 
the most exasperated and malignant character, which prevailed 
among the prisoners. At the first forming of the depot, pneu- 
monia, in its worst form, generally prevailed, which degener- 
ated into a still more dangerous species of pulmonic com- 
plaint, nearly peripneumonia notha, which was rapidly suc- 
ceeded by a putrid kind of measles, and that destructive mal- 
ady followed by a malignant small-pox, which spread rapid- 
ly ; dismay and apprehension were painted on every counte- 
nance. 

Dr. Magrath's time and attention were fully occupied in 

13 



134 THE prisoners' memoirs, 



the hospital, and in vaccinating the prisoners. From his un- 
precedented exertions in an inclement season of the year, in 
a most inhospitable clime, his heahh became seriously im- 
paired ; but totally regardless of himself, he persevered in his 
unparalleled exertions, and from his superior knowledge in 
the healing art, was the means, under divine Providence, of 
rescuing many citizens of the United States from the fast ap- 
proximating embraces of death. This malignant species of 
small-pox, unknown to the generality of professional gentle- 
men, appeared in other places, and a far greater number fell 
victims, in proportion to the cases at the place. We therefore 
trust, that some distinguished mark of the nation's gratitude 
will be conferred on Dr. Magrath ; for this truly great man's 
exertions in the cause of suffering humanity, have been rarely 
equalled, but never excelled. 

We have the honor to remain, with sentiments of respect 
and attachment, your excellency's obedient humble servants, 

BENJ. MERCER, \ 

PIERRE G. DE PEYSTER, \ g^ m 
HENRY PROCTOR, 1 3 o 

JOHN COTTLE, / gj. 

THOS. CARBERRY, f § E 

JAMES LESTER, f ^ 

HENRY BULL, I ^ 

THOS. B. MOTT, >- ^S 

SETH WALKER, f B-t^ 

WILLIAM WEST, [ ^b^ 

CHARLES DEXTER, \ ^^ 5' 

WILLIAM MOLLEY, \^^ cr 

JOHN S. TROUBRIDGE. K S&- 

HENRY SHERBURNE, / § ^ 

THOS. B. FROST. / "" 



CO 



ANSWER. 

Officers and hrave Americans collectively : 

Permit me to request you will accept the warmest and 
most sincere thanks of my heart, for the flattering testimo- 
nials of your approbation of my conduct, with which you 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 135 

have honored me, and allow me to assure you, that nothing 
can be more exquisitely gratifying to my very best feeling, 
than the language in which you have been pleased to convey 
this mark of your esteem. I feel convinced that you will 
indulgently excuse me, if I find it impossible to command 
words sutficiently emphatic, adequately to express the senti- 
ments of gratitude, with which I am penetrated, for this unex- 
pected proof of your regard ; I must therefore allow my 
heart, rather than my pen, to thank you. But it would not 
be doing justice to my feelings were I to abstain from assur- 
ing you, that I have endeavored to perform my duty towards 
you, with that self-devotedness which looks onlv for its re- 
ward in its own consciousness of right, and its own secret 
sense of virtue ; and whatever difficulties I have had to en- 
counter in the discharge of my important trust, by struggling 
with a succession of the most violent and exasperated epidemic 
diseases, perhaps ever recorded in medical history, during the 
whole of my service among you, the distinguished proof of 
your confidence, and approbation of my professional labors, 
with which you this day have been pleased to honor me, 
amply compensates me, and must rank amongst the proudest 
and happiest events of my life. It now only remains for me, 
in this plain, but unfeigned language, again to beg you will 
receive my most sincere thanks ; and to assure you, collec- 
tively, that a due and lively sense of the high honor which 
you have conferied upon me, shall, to the last moments of my 
existence, remain ingrafted in n^jy breast. And here allow 
me most sincerely to congratulate you on the happy event 
which terminates your captivity, and which is soon to restore 
you to the bosoms of your families and friends; and that you 
may all enjoy peace and happiness, is the sincere wish of 
your most grateful and much obliged humble servant, 

GEO. MAGRATH. 
Dartmoor, March 30, 1815. 



Dartmoor Prison, April 9th, 1815. 
To His Excellency John Q,. Adams. 

Sir: 

Impressed with the sense of duty which we owe to our 
country and to ourselves, we respectively solicit permission to 



136 ^ THE prisoners' memoirs, 

introduce to your Excellency George Ma^rath, Esq., M.D., 
principal of the medical department at this depot. Language 
is incompetent to delineate the worth and character of this 
gentleman, pre-eminent in medical science, enriched by every 
virtue and accomplishment that can dignify and adorn human 
nature, and form the gentleman and philanthrophist. 

His professio.nal skill has been peculiarly conspicuous in 
his successfully combatting a succession of diseases, of the 
most exasperated and malignant character, which prevailed 
among the prisoners. 

Dr. Magralh's health, from his indefatigable exertions, 
became seriously impaired, but he persevered in the perform- 
ance of his arduous duties and unremitting efforts to arrest 
the alarming and rapid advances of the prevailing diseases; 
and he was the ageni under divine Providence of rescuing 
many citizens of the United States from a premature grave, 
and as it were, renewing their existence, but more particularly 
on the late unhappy occurrence. 

Language is too impotent to describe Dr. Magrath's unex- 
ampled endeavors to prevent the effusion of blood ; regardless 
of the many dangers by which he w^as environed, he per- 
severed, amidst the heavy and incessant fire of musketry, in 
his humane endeavors to prevent the fatal catastrophe. 

His treatment of the unfortunate wounded Americans is 
superior to all praise, and was such as to entitle Dr. Magrath 
to the esteem and gratitude of the citizens oi the United 
States. 

We therefore respectfslly and ardently solicit that your 
Excellency would be pleased to honor Dr. Magrath with 
your particular notice and esieem, and to convey these our 
sentiments to the government of the United States ; for we 
would wish to give all possible publicity to our high sense of 
Dr. Magrath, and to evince to our country and the w^orld how 
gratefully we appreciate the essential services we have re- 
ceived from that gentleman. 

We avail ourselves of this opportunity to offer to your 
Excellency our congratulations on the happy termination of 
your important duties at Ghent, by the conclusion of a peace 
so highly honorable to our beloved country, and to yourself, 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 137 



and to assure 3'our Excellency of our high respect and attach- 
ment to your character and person. 

We have the honor to be, Sir, 

Your obedient humble servants, 

For and in behalf of the American prisoners of war at this 
depot, 

PIERRE G. DEPEYSTER, 
HENRY PROCTOR, 
HENRY BULL, 
JOHN COTTLE, 
THOS. GAIR, 
THOS. CARBERRY, 
JAMES LESTER, 
BENJ. MERCER, 
ISAAC DO WELL. 



Dartmoor, April 10, 1815. 
Gentlemen, 

Honored as I am with the approbation of those whose good 
opinion I so highly estimate, I cannot permit myself to re- 
ceive this additional mark of your friendship and regard (in 
which you much overrate my humble exertions, in the dis- 
charge of my duty and the cause of humanity,) without 
begging leave to assure you, that whilst it reflects upon me 
the highest honor that could be conferred, it lays claim to my 
heartfelt acknowledgments and everlasting gratitude. 

With the most sincere and cordial good wishes for your 
health and happiness, 

I remain, gentlemen, 
Your much obliged and most grateful servant, 

GEO. MAGRATH. 
To the gentlemen forming the Hospital Committee. 



12^ 



138 THE prisoners' memoirs, 



February, 1815. 

The following is a correct list of all who entered his Majesty- s service 
out of Dartmoor prison from April 1813 until 1814; to which is 
annexed their former residence^ and the ships in which they were 
captured or impressed. 

James Akin, Roxbury, Mass., Wm, Bayard. 

Abel Akins, Penobscot, Maine, Tygris, Baltimore. 

Alford Arnold, unknown, Penn., Viper, do 

Wm. Armstrong, Salem, Mass., Rolla, priv. 

Anthony Agusta, New Orleans, do do 

Henry Allen, Roxbury, Mass., Wm. Bayard, N. Y. 

George Blanchard, Elizabeth, N. J., do . 

Gabriel Bugoine — Vir., brig Star, N. Y. 

Henry Brown, New York, Criterion, Baltimore. 

Edward Blackstone, Kennebunk, Maine, do 

Wm. Bishop, Danverse, Mass., Spitfire, Boston. 

Wm. Brown, New-Point-Comfort, Vir., U. S. brig Argus. 

Frederick Cransburgh, Prussia, brig Star. 

John C. Cox, b. New York, do 

Stephen Churchell, Richmond, Vir., Viper, Bait. 

Samuel Cook, Tiverton, R. I., Price, do 

Albert Cooper, Newburyport, Mass., man-of-war. 

Jerodia Denison, Middleton, Con., brig Star. 

John Duncan, Boston, Viper. 

Wm. Ervine, New York, Virginia Planter. 

Francis Foster, New London, Con., Meteor, N. Y. 

Shubel Folger, Nantucket, Mass., Wm. Bayard. 

William Fenton, Wiscasset, Maine, man-of-war. 

Daniel Holt, New London, Con., brig Star, N. Y. 

John Hughs, New York, do do 

John Hubbard, do do do 

James Holms, Portsmouth, N. H., Magdalin, N. Y. 

Thorn as Howell, Beverley, Mass., Independence. 

Anthony Hughieco, New Orleans, Rolla, privateer. 

Aaron Hinkley, Bath, Mass., Viper, Bait. 

Francis Joseph, New Orleans, brig Star, N. Y. 

James Jackson, Phil., Penn., Paul Jones, N. Y. 

John Little, do Unknown 

Mathew Latimore, N. Y., Meteor, N. Y. 

Robert Murray, Newport, R. L, Rolla, Phil. 

Henry Neal, N. Y., N. Y., Ned, Bait. 

Charles M'Nites, Bait., Maryland, Ned, Bait. 

John Newgen , N. Y., True-blooded Yankee. 

Francis Rice, Boston, Mass., Virginia Planter. 

Ebenezer Rich, Portland, Mass., Flash, N. Y. 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 139 



John Senate, Philadelphia, Wm. Bayard. 
John Sheard, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., do. 
John Shultz, Denmark, Criterion, N. Y. 
Wm. Smith, New York, Terrible. 
John Thompson, Denmark, brig Star. 
Wm. Thomas, Germany, Viper, Bait. 
Zach. Tough, New London, Con., Terrible. 
John Williams, New York, N. Y., Wm. Bayard. 
Edward Washburn, New York, N. Y., brig Star. 
George Williams, Bait., Maryl., Charlotte, Charls. 
John Wilson, Phil, Penn., Governor Gerry, N. Y. 
William Warner, New York, N. Y., Ajax. 
John West, do do Dukanor. 

Israel Wright, Tinmouth, Ver., brig Star, N. Y. 
Wm. Wilson, Long Island, N. Y., Ned, Bait. 
Robert Wesel, New York, do do 

James Pickerton, Hampton, Vir., Lightning, Phil. 
Francis Lisda, New Orleans, Louisiana, Unknown. 
James Johnson, New York, N. Y., brig Mars. 



The following is a correct List of all who entered his Majesty* s ser- 
vice from the different prison ships at Chatham, from April 1813, 
until June 1814. Copied from the clerk's books. 

John Anderson, b. Newcastle, Del., man-of-war. 

John Atkinson, b. Baltimore, Maryland, True Blood. 

John Austin, unknown, unknown. 

Josiah Abraham, Phil., Penn., man-of-war. 

James Anderson, Bait., Maryland, unknown. 

Peter Boyd, New York, N. Y., do 

John Boyd, Kennebunk, Mass., do 

John Brown, New Bedford, Impressed. 

John Bauld, Block Island, man-of-war. 

Isaac Baily, Boston, Mass., do 

John Brown, Salem, do True Blood. 

Peter Brown, Phil., Penn., unknown. 

George Bing, New York,N. Y., man-of-war. 

John Brown, b. Salem, Mass., do 

Samuel Billham, b. do do do 

John Barks, New Bedford, do 

George Burns, Phil., Penn., do 

Asa Bumpus, New Bedford, Mass., unknown. 

Rufus Brown, Eastport, do 

John Burns, North Carolina, do 

John Baily, Hainsbury, Mass., do 

Ebenezer Carter, Portsmouth, N. H., man-of-war 

Isaac Crawford, Boston, Mass., do 



140 THE prisoners' MEMOIRS, 



Benjamin Cotton, Norfolk, Vir., man-of-war. 
Thomas Charles, b. New York, N. Y., do 
Charles CufFee, Long Island, do do 

Isaac Carrol, New York, do unknown. 

Ezekiel Church, Phil., Penii., do 

Peter Dowling, Lewisburg, Vir., Gov. Tomkins. 
Wm. Denning, New Bedford, man-of-war. 
Isaac Darlton, Boston, Mass., do 

Thomas Denison, Portsmouth, N. H., man-of-war. 
Thomas Dunn, New York, N. Y., unknown. 
John Davis, Alexandria, Vir., man-of-war. 
Henry Dison, Holmes' Hole, unknown. 
Silas'Eaton, Phil., Penn., M. S. Malta. 
Dudley French, b. Newburyport, Mass., unknown 
John Fowler, do 

Elias Field, do 

Nicholas Gold, North Kingston, R. I., do 

Wm. Goes, New York, N. Y., do 

Jeremiah Gills, b. Baltimore, Maryland, do 

Isaac Griffin, Boston, Mass. do 

Gills, New York, N. Y., do 

Samuel Harvey, North Carolina, Impressed. 
James Hoyd, New York, N. Y., man-of-war. 
Henry Hamong, Phil., Penn., brig Esel, Bait. 
Henry Holsworth, New York, unknown. 
John Hopkins, do do 

Samuel Hopkins, do do 

Samuel Hainsly, b. do do 

Wm. Hull, b. Bait., Maryland, do 
Johnson Harlem, b. New York, do 
James Hall, VVainsburg, N. Y., do 
Wm. Hubbard, Providence, R. I., do 
Peter Henrv, Phil , Penn., do 

Thos. Hazaird, Narragansett, R. I. do 
John Fitz, New Bedford, Mass., do 
Benjamin Holbrook, Kennebeck, do 
Thomas Jackson, b. New- York, do 
John Jackson, Long-Island, do. 

Samuel Jackson, b. Salem, Mass., do. 
John Jackson, b. New-Bedford, do. 
Wm. Johnson, Norfolk, Vir. do. 

Zaca James, Snowhill, Maryland, do. 
Francis Johnson, Bal. do. do. 

Nathan Kezer, Newburyport, Mass. do. 
John Jones, Boston, do. do. 

Isaac Lemur, do. do. Impressed. 

Andrew Lamson, Portsmouth, N. H. unknown. 
John Lunderson, New-York, do. 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON* 141 



John Lames, Portsmouth, N. H. brig Hunter. 
George Lewis, b. unknown, unknown. 
George Lee, b. Salem, Moss. do. 

Asa Freeman, Pittyfoog, unknown. 
Jeremiah Miller, Soco, Maine, do. 
Edward Mathews, Phil. Penn. man of war. 
John Morris, do. do. do. 

Mr. Fairlin, Bait. Maryland, do. 

Benjamin Morgan, b. unknown, do. 

Benjamin Melvin, b. Nantucket, Mass. do. 
John Molden, b. Bait. Maryland, do. 

Morris, New-York, do. 

Edw. Moulton, Newburyport, Mass. do. 
Henry Moore, New-York, do. 

John Mackey, Portsmouth, N. H. do. 

John Nicklas, New- York, N. Y. do. 

Owens, Philadelphia, Penn. , 

Richard Porter, Wiscasset, Mass, Impressed. 

Thomas Parkman, unknown. 

Edward Phillips, do 

Elisha Paul, Maryland. 

Simon Roy, Saybrook, Connecticut. 

John Ride, Philadelphia, Penn. 

Thomas Roberson, Plymouth, Mass. man of war. 

John Rough, Alexandria, Virginia. 

William Riley, Philadelphia. 

Henry Randolph, , Massachusetts. 

Robert Real, New-York, N. Y. 

James Roberts, b. Wilmington, N. C. 

Robert Roberts, b. Njew-York. 

John Ring, Philadelphia, Penn. . 

Nathan Robinson, unknown. 

Morris Russell, Savannah, Georgia. 

William Rich, Warrington, Conn. 

Isaac Somendycke, New-York. 

George Simsons, b. Philadelphia. 

David Simond, b. Alexandria, Virg. impressed. 

John Smith, Norfolk, do. do 

James Stanly, New-York. 

William Symons, b. Chaiieston, S. C. 

William Stewart, b. unknown. 

John Simon, b. do 

William Strong, Marblehead, Mass. 

David Stephens, Long-Island, N. Y. 

William Scofield, Turkey-Hill, Oldhadam, Conn. 

John Thompson, Long Island, N. Y. 

Edward Fitley, New^-York. 



142 THE prisoner's memoirs, 



John Vanderhoven, New- York 

William Welch, Charleston, S. C. _ 

Charles Wetmore, Norwich. Con, 

John B. Williams, Baltimore, Md. 

John Wells, New- York. 

Charles Wright, Alexandria, Vir. 

Charles Wilford, New- York. 

Charles Williams, unknown. 

William Watson, Charleston, S, C. man of war. 

William Walker, Pelham, N. H. 

Jason Wood, Philadelphia, Penn. 

William Wood, do do 

Ezekiel Wilson, do do ' 

William Wolf, Savannah, Georgia. 

Charles Wilson, Providence, R. I. 

Robert Wilson, Newport, do 

The following is a correct list of prisoners who entered his Majesty'' s 
service at the Depot of Stapleton, from July 1813, until May 1814, 
copied from the clerk'' s books. 

John Abrahams, b. New- York, Grand Napoleon. 

John Brown, Charleston, S. C. Revenge. 

John Reinbridge, Dutchman, Tickler, Boston. 

Charles Burgoin, Charleston, S. C. Revenge. 

Joseph Fletcher, Portland, Mass. Orders in Council. 

Henry Henrick, do 

Eben. Jacobs, Newburyport, impressed. 

William Howard, Philadelphia, Fox. 

Stephen Henry, black man. 

Robert Hackley, New- York, unknown. 

Mark Mason, Philadelphia, Fox. 

James Marley, Norfolk, Virg. impressed, 

Georg'e Russell, New- York, Tom of Baltimore. 

John Smith, Paul Jones. 

Francis Surges, black man. 

Thomas Taylor, Maryland, Price of Baltimore. 

Charles White, New-York, Meteor. 



The following is a list of names of persons who died, at Stapleton 

prison^ from July 1813 until June 1814. 
George Morgan, Long-Island, N. Y. Grand Napoleon. 
David Smart, New- York, Price, of Baltimore. 
John Dunn, Philadelphia, do do 
D. Francis, Providence, R. 1. Hebe of Philadel. 
John Mitchel, New-York, unknown. 
Isaac Watts, Charleston, S C. do 
Lambert Johnson, New-York, do 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 



143 



The following is a list of names of persons who died at Chatham^ on 
board the different prison-ships, from January 1813 until June 
1814; at which time all the prisoners were removed to the depot at 
Dartmoor. 



Feb. 28, 1814. 
Feb. 19, do 
Jan. 4, 1813. 
Jan. 7, do 
Dec. 5, 1814. 

Feb. 28, 1814. 
March 31, do 
Dec. 1813. 

Jan. 9, 1813. 
May 3, do 
June 5, do 
June 11, do 
Nov. 23, do 
May 4, do 
April 16, do 
May 25, do 
March 4, do 
April 27, do 
July 5, do 
April 18, do 
May 19, do 
Jan. 27, do 
Mar. 27, do 
April 12, 1814 
May 18, do 
June 6, 1813 
June 25, 1814 
Dec. 27, do 
Feb. 14, do 
April 17, do 
May — do 
Mar. 29, do 
Feb. 5, do 
May 16, do 
Mar. 12, do 
Feb. 23, do 
Jan. 7, do 
Mar. 30, do 
Mar. 22, do 
Mar. 29, do 



Samuel Abbet, Andover, Mass. 
William Alien, Newport, R. I. 
Joseph Andrews, Marblehead. 
Howel Baysta, Boston, Mass. 
Moses Blackman, Boston, do. 
James Butler, unknown. 
William Butler, Baltimore, Md. 
John Adams, New- York. 
Ely Bactman, Wocester county, Mass. 
Thomas Billings, New- York. 
Christopher Balbadge, Salem, Mass. 
Edward Brown, Marblehead, do 
Nicholas Bunker, Scituate, do 
Jesse Brown, Belfast, Maine. 
Thomas Carter, Norfolk, Vir. 
Thomas Copland, Charleston, S. C. 
Isaac Clough, Marblehead, Mass. 

Christy, Baltimore, U. S. gun-boat. 

James Davis, Somerset. 

John H. Downie, Salem, Mass. 

James Diverause, do do 

Benjamin Elvell, Gloucester, Mass. 

William Elingwood, Marblehead, Mass. 

William Poller, Marblehead, Ma'^s. 

Anthony Fundy, New-York. 

William Forman, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. 

Amos Graindy, Marblehead, Mass. 

James B. Green, Alexandria, Vir. 

Thomas Hutchinson, unknown. 

George Hubbard, do 

William Hart, do 

Jacob Holt, Salem, Mass. 

Christopher Hubbard, Baltimore, Md. 

Samuel Head, New- York. 

Samuel Jones, New-York, Tyger. 

John Johnson, Long-Island, N. Y. 

William Light, unknown. 

Reuben Ludlow, New-York, Tyger. 

James Lewis, Norfolk, Vir. 

James Ludlow, Greenfield, Con. 

Ezekiel Miller, New-York. 

Samuel Miller, New-York. 



April 1 , 


do 


Mar. 16, 


do 


June 10, 


do 


Mar. 29, 


1813 


Jan. 6, 


1814 


April 3, 


do 


do 20, 


do 


do 21, 


do 


May 24, 


do 


June 6, 


do 


Jan. 4, 


do 


Mar. 25, 


do 


do 19, 


do 


do 24, 


do 



144 THE prisoners' memoirs, 

Fisher Mansfield, New-London, Con. 

Aaron Mackley, drowned escaping. 

Captain Morgan, Salem, Mass. Enterprize. 

James Mills, Alexandria, Vir. 

Samuel Nelson, New- York. 

Hugh Nichols, Newbern, N. C. 

William Pousland, Marblehead, Mass. 

Clement Pair, Portland, Maine. 

Edw^ard Patten, Baltimore. 

William Potter, Beverly, Mass. 

David Pinkham, Nantucket, do. 

Jared Ray, New York. 

John Roaply, New York. 

Charles Saunders, near Alexandria, Vir. 

Proctor Simonds, unknown. 

Ebenezer Skinner, Nantucket, Mass. 

Henry Scott, Baltimore. 

Jonathan Sawyer, Portland, Maine. 
Nov. 25, 1813 Reuben Moslaird, Nantucket, Mass., Tyger, N. Y. 
Feb. 16, do Daniel Roaps, Salem, Mass. 
May 9, do John Rotter, Md. 
Apr. 24, 1814 James Smith, Marblehead, Mass. 

Growler, Salem, do 

May 28, do Jonathan Trueman, Portland, Maine. 
Mar. 6, do Edward Williams, Philadelphia. 
Apr. 14, do James Weeks, Marblehead, Mass. 

do 29, 1813 Samuel Warren, unknown. 
Mar. 4, do Richard Winchester, Gloucester, Mass. 

Webber, Kennebeck, Maine. 

Aug. 16, do Francis Williams, Salem, Mass. 
Mar. 26, do Stephen Thatson, Brook field, do. 

Thirty-nine names unknown —chiefly United States Infantry. 

Tfie following contains a list of the persons who died at Dartmoor 

from April 1813, until the 18th February, 1815 ; copied from the 
reports of the Doctor. 
Dec. 23, 1813 Henry AUigo, New York, U. S. brig Argus. 
Oct. 24, do Ambrose Alamond, Carthagenia, President. 
Nov. 6, do John Adams, Washington, S. C, Greyhound. 

do 21, do John B. Allen, N. Y., Herald. 
Dec. 25, 1814 Isaac Anderson, Portsmouth, N. H., Huzzar. 

do 23, do Joshua Andrews, Ipswich, Mass., David Porter. 

do 3, do John Adams, N. C , America. 

do 27, do Alexander Anderson, N. Y., Criterion. 
Jan. 7, do Jacob Anderson, Portsmouth, N. H. 

do 26, do Daniel Archer, Salem, Mass., Grand Turk. 

do 4, 1815 Daniel Appleton, Portsmouth, N. H., U. S. Frolic. 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 145 



Feb. 5, 


1815 


do 18, 


do 


Nov. 14, 


do 


May 5, 


1814 


Nov. 20, 


1813. 


do 23. 


do 


do 5, 


1814. 


do 27, 


do 


do 28, 


do 


do 28, 


do 


do 3, 


1813. 


Dec. 2, 


do 


do 5, 


do 


do 8, 


do 


:do 25, 


1814. 


Jan. 30, 


do 


do 27, 


do 


do 20, 


do 


do 14, 


do 


Jan. 17, 


1815. 


Feb. 11, 


do 


do 17, 


do 


do 17, 


do 


Nov.21, 


1814 


Jan. 23, 


do 


Dec. 29, 


1814 


Nov. 1 8, 


do 


July 4, 


do 


Oct. 20, 


1813 


Jan. 16, 


do 


Mar. 5, 


do 


do. 20, 


do 


April 6, 


do 


Oct. 3, 


do 


do 7, 


do 


do 16, 


do 


do 25, 


do 


Nov. 8, 


do 


do 11, 


do 


do 26. 


do 


Dec. 4, 


do 


Jan. 17, 


do 


do 24, 


do 


Nov. 5 , 


1814. 


May 10, 


do 


Nov. 14, 


do 



Robert Adams, Marblehead, Mass., Herald. 
Peter Amos, Martha's Vineyard, Mass., Invincible 
Napoleon. 

Asa Allen, Boston, Herald. 
Nick Blanchard. 
Hezekiah Bray, Boston, India. 
Jolin Boatman, Baltimore, Chasseur. 
Lewis Bryen, Carolina, Hawke. 
Peter Berry, died suddenly. 
Peter Barker, Boston, Derby. 
Peter Bin, Petersburg, Va., Independence. 
Thomas Barren, Va., United States brig Argus. 
Henry Burly, New-York. 
John Baldwin, Boston, Fox. 
James Barret, Pennsylvania, Bury. 
Henry Burbage, Va., Greyhound. 
Charles Barker. 

Benjamin Bale, Dover, N. H., Victory. 
Phihp Blagdell, N. H., Erie. 
James Beck, Portsmouth, N. H,, impressed. 
Daniel Bourge, Portsmouth, N. H., Harlequin. 
George Brown, Westchester, N. Y., impressed. 
Charles Brown, Boston, Paul Jones. 
Moses Bailey, Philadelphia, Scorpion. 
John Bablista, New-York, Herald. 
John Bryson, Va., Alicant, 
James Booth, New-York, Mary, 
Y. S. Bates, unknown. 
William Clarke, Va., Frolic. 

William Clark, South Kingston, R. I., Star of N. Y. 
Charles Cornish, Baltimore, Md., Chesapeake. 
James Combs, Bristol, D. Maine, U. S. brig Argus. 
John Cole, Wiscasset, impressed. 
Benjamin Cook, Baltimore, Md., Chesapeake. 
Deal Carter, New- York, Zebra, N. Y. 
John Collins, Philadelphia, Mammoth, Baltimo'o. 
John Carney or Carson, Virginia, Flash, 
Simeon Chandler, Duxbury, Essex 
Thomas Cooper, Washington, N. C, Union. 
James Congdon, Cambridge, Mass,, Mary. 
John Cole, Baltimore, Md , Adeline, 
Richard Coffee, Long Island, N. Y., America. 
Samuel Campeach, Carthagena, President. 
Simeon Clark, Weathersfield, Snapdragon. 
William Coleman, N. C. Hawke. 
William Dilton. Georgetown, Argus. 
Silas Durham, Boston, Mass., India. 

13 



146 THE PRISONERS* MEMOIRS, 

Nov. 18, 1814, Amasa Dilano, New-Bedford, India. 

Jan. 10, do William Dimamond, R. T., brig Mary. 

Oct. 25, 1814. David Dunham, unknown, Fame, Baltimore. 

Jan. 26, do William Edgar, N. J., Hepsie. 

do 6, 1815. Edward Evans, Kennebunk, brig Star, N. Y. 

Feb. 25, 1814. William Ferza, Granville, Mermaid. 

Jan. 27, do James Fulford, N. C. Snapdragon. 

Wm. Fletcher, Marblehead,Mass., Spitfire, Boston. 

Dec. 23, 1813 Henry Frelitch, Liverpool, Penn. Liverpool. 

Nov. 12, do Jesse Field, Townsend, Maine, Siron. 

do 30, do Joshua Fowler, Boston, impressed, 

Jan, 23, do William Fennel, Portsmouth, N. H., Harper. 

Mar. 18, 1814. Thomas Foquet, Granville, brig Argus. 

May — 1813. Reuben Glass, Duxbury, Mars, of Baltimore. 

April 19. 1814. Thomas Gasgiline, Martinico, W. L, Augustine. 

Oct. 22, do William Gibson, N. York, Rattlesnake. 

Nov. 4, do Francis Gardner, , R. L, Rambler. 

Dec. 3, do John Gaylor, , North Carolina, America. 

Feb. 17, 1815. James Gedman, Partsmouth, N. H., Bunker Hill. 

Jan. 29, 1815. Richard Hughs, New- York, Amiable, Philadelphia. 

Mar. 5, do Simeon Harress, New- York, Magdalen. 

July 3, 1814. James Henry, New-York, U. S. brig Argus. 

do 8, do James Hart. do Courier of Baltimore. 

Nov. 9, do Isaac Herm'ain, Portland, Maine, Elbridge Gerry. 

do 11, do James Hetrope, Cambridge, Mass., Mary. ^ 

do 24, do William Harress, Portsmouth, N. H., Portsmouth. 

Dec. 24, do Dempey Hydra, , North Carolina, Paul Jones. 

do 4, do Silas Hardison, , North Carolina. 

Jan. 6, 1815. Elijah Hartford, St. Thomas, U. S. infantry. 

Feb. 5, do Jacob Hanley, Milford, impressed. 

Dec. 29, 1814. Alexander Henderson, New-York, Criterion. 

Nov. 4, do William Jones, Cambridge, Mass., Hawke. 

April 30, do George Jones, , Connecticut, Viper of Bait. 

June 25, do Lambert Johnson, Middletown. N. J., Paul Jones. 

do 6, do Thomas Jackson, New-York, impressed. 

Nov. 2, do Alexander Johnson, Charleston, S. C, William. 

do 25, do Manuel Joseph, Oporto, impressed. 

Jan. 24, do Thomas Jarvis, Marblehead, Mass., Industry. 

do 8, 1815. John Johannas, Salem, Mass., President. 

Feb. 1, do John Johnson, New York, born in Rhode Island, 

Criterion. 
Nov. 11, 1814. James Ketrope, Cambridge, Mary. 

Feb. 3, 1815. Uriah King, Scituate, Mass., Dominick. 

Nov. 3, 1814. Jesse Lasol, Martinico, President. 

Aug. 5, do John Lewis, R. I., True-blooded Yankee. 

Jan. 1, do James Lestar, unknown, do 

Jan. 15, do Charles Lamson, Bait. Md. Mars, Bait. 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 147 



Sept. 30, 1814. Lewis Larkins, Durham, Mass. Rolla. 

Nov. 1, do Placid Lorly, Washington, Hawke. 

Nov. 22, do Anthony Lamb, Conn. Grand Turk. 

Dec. 30, do Richard Lee, Mass , brig Argus. 

Jan. 27, do Amos Larkins, Beverly, Mass,, impressed. 

Feb. 4, 1815. James Laskey, Marblehead, Mass., Enterprise. 

Nov. 20, 1814. Sola, Marshall, Mass., Alexandria. 

Oct. 1, 1813. Thomas Morrison, Bait. Md., Messenger. 

Jan. 14, 1814. Henry Moore, New York, Marmion, N. Y. 

Feb. 24, do John Montgomery, New Bedford, im^iressed. 
Sept. 22, do Manuel Martin, New Orleans, Paul Jones, N. Y. 

Oct. 27, do Calasso Madosa, Carthagena, President. 

Oct. 25, do Albert Mingo, New Orleans, Weezer. 

Nov. 18, do Rollen M'Donovan, Mass., Siro. 

do 18, do John Macky, Bait. Md., Rattlesnake, 

do 20, do Richard Miller, Penn., Snap Dragon. 

Jan. 30, do Joseph Midge, unknown. 

Dec. 12, do Ezekiel Mitchell, Portland, D. Maine, Charlotte. 

Feb. 5,1815. Jesse March, Kennebunk, do M'Donough. 

Feb. 14, do Wm. Misten, Bait. Md., impressed. 

Feb. 17, do John Martin, Carthagena, President. 

Sol Marshall, Deer Island, Mass., Mammoth. 

Jan. 22, 1815. Peter Mitchell, New York, Formidable. 

Nov. 15, 1813. Benj. Newbern, New York, U. S. brig Argus. 

Sept. 29, 1814. Edw,d Norton, Plymouth, Mass., U. S. ship Argus. 

Feb. 24, 1815. Daniel Nash, Maryland, impressed. 

Oct. 7,1814. Josiah Pettengell, Salem, Mass., Enterprise. 
Nov. 4, do Joel Perigo, Boston, Mass., India. 
March 12, do Samuel Pierce, Greenwich, R. I., Dart, of N. Y. 

Dec. 4, do Samuel Peterson, Phil., Nonsuch. 

Nov. 5, do Thomas Parker, Bait. Md., Dominique. 
Nov. 26, do Wm. Parker, New York, Derby. 

Jan. 30, do Charles Parker, unknown. 

Nov. 3, do John Perkins, Pittsfield, Mass., Siro. 

Nov. 7, do James Palmer, Portsmouth, N. H. Frolic. 

do 23, do John Pollard, Pernambuco, S. A. Ida. 

Jan. 14, do Aaron Peterson, Stonington, Conn , Joel Barlow. 

Oct. 5, do John Potter, Phil., Penn., impressed. 

Sept. 26, do Ephraim Pinkham, Wiscasset, Maine, Mammoth. 

May, 1813 Horace Risley, Long-Island, N. Y., Star of N. Y. 

Nov. 16, 1814 Benjamin Rinevon, Guadaloupe, West Indies, Fox. 

do 12, do Luke Rodgers, , North Carolina, Fairy. 

do 14, do David Reed, Townsend, District of Maine, America. 

Dec. 29, do James Rooth, Norwich, Conn., Mary. 

Jan. 9, do Silas Hardison, , North Carolina, Hawke. 

do 22, do Thomas Rix, Suffolk, Vir , Labrador. 

Feb. 7, 1815 Francis Roberts, St. Sebastian, Spain, Chesapeake. 



Dec. 


9, 


1814 


Jan. 


16, 


do 


Oct. 


17, 


do 


do 


20, 


do 


do 


25, 


do 


Nov 


. 3, 


do 


do 


20, 


do 


do 


21, 


do 


Dec. 


7, 


do 


do 


8, 


do 


do 


15, 


do 


Jan. 


24 


do 


do 


14, 


do 


do 


5, 


1815 


do 


20, 


do 



148 THE prisoners' memoirs, 

Feb. 14, 1815 John Risdon, Baltimore, Pike, 
do 15, do Samuel Robenson, Boston, Ducanavia. 
Samuel Robenson, Phil., Nonsuch. 
William Saunders, Kennebunk, Maine, Mars of 
Baltimore. 

William Shans, U. S. brig Argus. 
Francis Saul, Wiscasset, Maine, Mercury. 
Jacob Sawyer, Providence, R. I , impressed. 

Richard Sperdy, , Virginia, Amelia. 

Isaac Simerson, New York, Invincible. 
Lewis Stow, Middletown, Conn. Tickler. 
Jacob C. Secusa, New York, Volunteer. 
Nicholas Smith, Richmond, Virginia, Herald. 
John Stiles, Baltimore, Md., William Bayard. 
Henry Schelding, unknown. 
Smith Schelding, New York, Fort Erie. 
John Stow, Harlequin. 
John Straul, Portland, Maine^ Siro. 
March 15, 1814 William Sternis, Norwich, Conn., Viper of Bait. 

Dec. 5. do William Smart, , Virginia, Gothland. 

Jan. 28^ 1815 Daniel Simons, Marblehead, Mass., Enterprise. 

do 12, do Ebenezer Simons, unknown. 
Feb. 7, do John Seapach, Portland, Maine, Alicant. 
March 9, 1814 Ekazer Tobie, New York, True-blooded Yankee. 
Feb. 25, do William Tyre, Springfield, Viper of Baltimore. 
Thomas Tagatt, Granville, Argus. 

Abraham Thomas, , Conn. P. Jones. 

Matthew Tineman, New York, Tom Thumb. 
John Thomas, New York, Elbridge Gerry. 
Abraham Tompkins. New York, Governor Shelby 
Francis Tuttle, Pernell, Maine, Leo. 
John B. Taylor, New York, Fair American. 
James Fulford, , North Carolina, Snap-Dra- 
gon. 

Samuel Tophown, Montgomery, soldier of the U. 
S. A. 

James Vassa, unknown, Growler. 
Daniel Very, Salem, Mass , Frolic. 
Nathaniel Vaughrs, Newport, R. I., Ducanavia 

Thomas Williams, , Connecticut, Viper of 

Baltimore. 

William Williams, Georgetown, Maria, Theresa. 

William Wescott, , Virginia, Gothland. 

James Williams, Weathersfield, Conn., Caroline.. 
Seth Williams, Portsmouth, N. H., Harlequin. 
George Overt, — - — , N. H., impressed. 
Joseph Wedger, Marblehead, Mass., Growler. 



March 18 


, do 


July 23, 


do 


Sept. 26, 


do 


Oct. '25, 


do 


Nov. 3, 


do 


do 24, 


do 


Dec. 2, 


do 


Jan. 27, 


do 


Feb. 12, 


1815 


Jan. 8, 


do 


Jan. 19, 


do 


Aug. 31, 


1814 


Mar. 20, 


do 


Oct. 27, 


do 


Dec. 5, 


do 


Jan. 14, 


do 


do 17, 


do 


Jan. 28, 


1815 


do 8, 


do 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 149 



Feb. 1, 1815 Joseph Williams, Gay-Head, Enterprise. 
Jan. 24, 1814 Thomas Zervice, Marblehead, Mass., Industry. 
do 21, do William Young, North Carolina, Levant. 



Oct 


1814 




1814 


Nov 


do 


Dec 


1814 


do 


do 


Sept 


do 


Jan 


1815 


do 


do 


Feb 


do 


Feb 6, 


do 


12, 


do 


March 12 do 


do 


do 


do 


18 do 



The following is a list of persons who escaped from Dartmoor prison 
from September, 1814, the first escape, until March 13, 1815. 

Sept 20, 1814 Shapley Smith, Baltimore, Leo. 

do 20, do Henry Cottrill, Narraganset, R. L, unknown. 

Capt. Swain, New Bedford, Mass. 

Gascoigne, unknown. 

Henry Allen, Salem, Mass., Polly. 

John Windham, unknown. 

Russell, New Bedford, Mass. 

Howard, unknown. 

Benjamin Prince, Portland, Maine, Magdalen. 

Rodgers, New York, True-blooded Yankee. 

Caleb Holmes, do., unknown. 

Joseph Langford, Baltimore, True-blooded Yankee. 

George Denison, Portland, Maine, Siro of Bait. 

John W, Fletcher, Alexandria, Vir., Rattlesnake. 

David Flood, Portland, Maine, Impressed. 

Isaiah Bunker, Philadelphia, True-blooded Yankee. 

William Webster, unknown. 

Escaped from the last date until April, six men, names unknown. 

The following is a correct list of names of prisoners who died at Dart- 
moor prison, from February 18, 1815, until April 20, 1815. 

Mar. 4, 1815 Archibald Allen, , New Jersey, impressed. 

do 15, do William Adams, , Connecticut, impressed. 

Capt. Allen, of the United States brig Argus, of 
wounds. 

Feb 22, do John Butler, , Delaware, Semiramus. 

Mar. 1 3, do Peter Burch, Philadelphia, Prosperity. 

do 29, do Wm. Brady, Baltimore, Flash, N. Y. 

do 22, do Henry Campbell, Philadelphia, Penn , Columbia. 
April 5, do James Campbell, New York, impressed. [Yankee 
March 11, do Jonathan Dyer, Portsmouth, N. H., True-blooded 
Feb 25, 1815 Jon. Davis, Middle-river, Mass,, ship Yorktown, 
Mar. 30, do Benjamin Delano, Ducksbury. 

Apr. 12, do John Devinas, , Ohio. 

Mar. 14, do William Evin, , Rhode Island, brig Star. 

Mar. 18, do Archibald Fogerty, Massachusetts, Horatio. 

Apr. 16, do John Francis, Norfolk, Vir. impressed. 
Mar. 4, do Jeremiah Gardner, Newort, R. I. impressed. 
Feb. 23, do Josiah Gun, Salem, Mass. 
Mar. 24, do Thomas Groves, Boston, Mass. Port Mahon. 



150 



THE PRISONERS MEMOIRS, 



Jonathan Gladding, Bristol, R. I. Rattlesnake. 
Francis Hobden, Gloucester, Vir. 
Abijah Holbrook, Weymouth, Derby. 
John Hobson, Bedford, N. C. Snapdragon. 
Joseph Haycock, Portland, Maine. 
Henry Holden, boston. Sultan. 

John Haywood, , Vir. impressed. 

Thomas Hall, , Surprise. 

John Jennings, Gay Head, M. V. Hawke. 

James Jones, , Md. impressed. 

Peter Joseph, West Indies, President. 
Edw. Jenkins, Cambridge, Mass. Tom of Bait. 
Wm. Johnson, Salem. Mas. impressed. 
John Jackson, Baltimore. do 

Thomas Jackson, New-York, Orbit. 

Joseph Johnson, , Connecticut, Paul Jones. 

James Knapps, Baltimore, impressed. 
John Kelly, Marblehead, Mass. Alfred. 
Jacob Kemble, Jenet. 
William Leverett, IN ew- York, Saratoga. 

Capt. Lepiate, , N. Y. Paul Jones. 

Edward Miller, Newark, N. J. Mammoth. 

Charles Moutle, Stonington, Con. impressed. 

James Morris, Baltimore, President. 

William Mills, city of Jersey, N. J. Zebra. 

Benjamin Marshall, — — , Massachusetts, Mindor. 

George Moore, Boston, Mass. Chasseur. 

John Monroe, Albany, N. Y. Rattlesnake. 

Jabez Mann, Boston, Siro. 

Jonathan Paul, Charleston, S. C. imp. 

Thomas Peckham, Windham, Conn. Paul Jones. 

Gideon Porter, , Rhode Island, impressed. 

Samuel Parish, Norfolk, Vir. Grand Napoleon. 
Joseph Q,uion, Salem, Mass. Herald. 
Joseph Rasom, Wiscasset, Maine, Ned of Bait. 
Joseph Robenson, do do do. 

James Robenson, , Mass. Price of Baltimore. 

William Robenson, 

Jeremiah Stanwood, Newbury port, Mass. imp. 
Silas Squibs, New-London, Conn. Hope-packet. 
Martin Sutten, New Bedford, Mass. Lion. 
David Shute, Salem, Mass. impressed. 
Andrew Smith, Indian River, Tom. 

Joseph Salesbury, , Mass. Zenith. 

Theodore Snell, Rhode Island, a soldier. 

Stephen Stacy, Marblehead, Mass. Ohio. 
Henry Thomas, Cambridge, Mass. Derby. 



Mar. 


14, 


1815. 


Feb. 


24, 


do 


Mar. 


10, 


do 


Mar. 


14, 


do 


Mar. 


20, 


do 


Apr. 
Apr. 
Apr. 
Feb. 


6, 
6, 

18, 
22, 


do 
do 
do 
do 


Feb. 


23, 


do 


Feb. 


26, 


do 


Feb. 


24, 


do 


Mar. 


10, 


do 


Mar. 


14, 


do 


Apr. 


6, 


do 


Apr. 
Feb. 


6, 
26, 


do 
do 


Apr. 
Apr 
Mar. 


16, 

6, 

10, 


do 
do 
do 


Feb. 


21, 


do 


Feb. 


21, 


do 


Mar. 


26, 


do 


Mar. 


24, 


do 


Mar. 


27, 


do 


Mar. 


30, 


do 


Jan. 


2, 


do 


Apr. 
Mar. 


6, 
10, 


do 
do 


Mar. 


15, 


do 


Mar. 


22, 


do 


Apr. 
Feb. 


1, 
23, 


do 
do 


Mar. 


2, 


do 


Mar. 


2, 


do 


Apr. 
Apr. 
Mar. 


1, 

18, 
20, 


do 
do 
do 


Mar. 


17, 


do 


Feb. 


22, 


do 


Mar. 


4, 


do 


Mar. 


^) 


do 


Mar. 


14, 


do 


Mar. 


16, 


do 


Mar. 


16, 


do 


Feb. 


21, 


do 



OR DARTMOOR PRISON. 151 



April 14, 1815 Richard Smith, Grand Turk. 

Feb. 21, do David Turner, Boston, Derby. 

April 6, do John Turner, , Mass. Rattlesnake. 

April 18, do William Thompson, Siro. 

Feb. 25, do Darius Villius, Providence, R. I. Frolic. 

Mar. 10, do Charles Williams, New-London, Connecticut. 

Mar. 17, do Samuel Williams, , Mass. Scorpion.. 

Mar. 26, do Edward Williams, , Va. impressed. 

April 6, do John Washington, Cooperstown, Md. Rolla. 



Died at Ashberton during the war, 

Mar. 10, 1815 B. Elvel, Gloucester, Mass. Firefly. 
Mar. 25, do. Abraham Burnham, , Mass. Price. 



SUPPLEMENT OF SOME MATTERS OBTAINED SINCE THE 
PRECEDING PAGES WERE WRITTEN. 



Copy of a letter from Lieut, N. D. Nicholson, of the late 
United States brig Syren, to Capt. Samuel Evans, com- 
manding naval officer at New-York. 

New- York, August 24, 1815. 
Sir: 

Conceiving it my duty to make known the treatment ex- 
hibited by the British officers and men, to those who are so 
unfortunate as to fallinto their power, I am induced to ac- 
quaint you with the following circumstances: 

After the surrender of the Syren to the Medway, the officers 
and crew of the former were removed to the latter ; the crew 
not being allowed the privilege of taking their clothing, <fec., 
with them, — so that the prize-crew had a fair opportunity of 
plundering such articles as they thought proper ; which op- 
portunity they took care to profit by, as many of our men 



152 THE prisoners' memoirs, &c. 

were pillaged of all they possessed, excepting what they had 
on at the time ; and the officers in like manner were plun- 
dered on board the Medway. The midshipmen, some of them, 
were completely stripprd ; others lost their watches, &c. For 
my own part, I came off with the loss of about half my clothing, 
and thought myself well off when compared with the losses 
of my shipmates. 

The morning after our capture, we were mustered on the 
quarter-deck, to undergo a search ; the men were then strip- 
ped to the skin, and their clothing not returned ; so that many 
of them were left without any thing more then a shirt and 
trowsers. The next day, Mr. Barton (the first lieutenant of 
the Medway) distributed the clothing he had taken from our 
men, to his quarter-masters and quarter-gunners, in my pre- 
sence. 

After being on board the Medway five weeks, we were 
landed at Simon-Town, twenty-five miles to the eastward of 
the Cape of Good Hope ; myself and brother officers paroled, 
and the men marched to Cape-Town under an escort of dra- 
goons; being obliged to ford a lake on the march, where the 
boys were compelled to go over on the backs of the tall men ; 
this march of twenty-five miles was performed in one day, 
and without shoes or food ; the latter article they were kept 
without four and twenty hours; their shoes were stolen by 
the crew of the Medway while they were asleep. After re- 
maining in this situation nearly eight months, without bed or 
bedding, (they were not even furnished with straw, and their 
hammocks were taken on a plea of their being public pro- 
perty,) we were all embarked in different men-of-war and In- 
diamen for England ; myself, and about sixty officers and men, 
in the Cumberland, seventy-four, Captain Baker, were all put 
on the lower gun-deck without distinction, among their own 
crew, and fed on prisoners' allowance ; and on my remonstrat- 
ing with the captain for receiving such treatment, he ordered 
me off the quarter-deck, with a threat, at the same time, to 
put me in irons. 

We remained in this situation eighteen days, after which 
Lieut. Gertnan, Gordon, and myself, were removed to the 
Grampus, thirty, at St. Helena, admitted to the ward-room 
mess, and treated with civility. 

With respect, I have the honor, &c., 

N. D. NICHOLSON. 

Capt. Samuel Evans. 







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